Women Business Owners Hope to Add Ventura County Chapter

Tana Davis thinks there is strength in numbers and that women who own their own businesses could use some of that strength.

So Davis, who heads the state chapter of the National Assn. of Women Business Owners, will be in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of a local chapter. It would join the 60 groups already formed throughout the country.

“We provide strength and information to help women build their businesses,” said Davis, co-owner of the Davis & Dash accounting firm in Encino.

“We are effecting policy decisions that relate to women business owners,” she said. “It’s very hard for local businesses in Ventura County or any county on the West Coast to have any influence, so a national organization is important.”

The Washington, D.C.-based organization, incorporated in 1974, represents 1,100 members statewide with chapters in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Sacramento, San Francisco and the Silicon Valley area.

At least 30 members are needed for a group to become a chapter. Membership fees include a $75 one-time dues charge and a $25 registration fee to the national organization, plus a fee for membership in the local chapter. The local dues have yet to be finalized, but probably it will be a one-time fee of $50 to $75, organizers say.

On the local level, NAWBO offers networking, workshops, speaker forums, training, community service programs, mentoring and information on developments in the business world. Nationally, the group lobbies government and takes a role in the shaping of public policy.

Last year, the Los Angeles chapter of NAWBO helped initiate a national campaign to increase the number of women-owned businesses that obtain corporate and government contracts. In 1995, the national association was part of the White House Conference on Small Business.

Gena Galindo, owner of the Custom Insurance Agency in Thousand Oaks, likes the range of services the organization provides. Like a handful of other county residents, she has been making the drive south for the monthly meetings of the Los Angeles chapter.

“We’re not strictly a networking group where we go once a week and pass out leads,” said Galindo, one of the women behind the formation of the local chapter. “We are getting leads, but we are also passing out information. We’re making real changes in the business culture.”

Galindo said the need for local NAWBO chapters has increased as the number of women business owners has risen, both locally and nationwide.

“I think that women have been accepted a lot more in business,” she said. “I think women get a lot of things accomplished, their work ethics are well thought of and a lot of women, especially single women, don’t have anything else to rely on.”

Davis said the number of women business owners has increased in recent years, largely as a result of downsizing in a number of industries. As of last year, she said, 8.1 million businesses in the United States were owned by women.

According to the National Foundation of Women Business Owners, there were 1.1 million women-owned businesses in California in 1996. Those businesses employed 2.3 million people and generated $314 billion in annual sales.

Davis said the influence of women in business has been felt across a number of industries.

“We’re going away from traditional retail service,” she said. “There are women-owned businesses in construction--in almost any section of the economy you’ll find women-owned businesses.”

Thus far, the majority of women who have shown interest in a Ventura County chapter of NAWBO represent the printing, financial planning and insurance fields.

Lisa Shwartz, half of the Mitchell-Shwartz CPA firm of Oxnard, is among the founding group. For Shwartz, the strong public presence of NAWBO is a primary draw.

“NAWBO is unique in that it is national, it has a lot of political power, a lot of influences and it’s comprised of a lot of very influential businesswomen,” Shwartz said. “When I was looking for an organization to join, I was attracted by the number of professional women.”