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S.D. on Itinerary for Small Biz ‘Whistle Stop’ Tour
Women-Owned Firms Growing at Twice the Rate of Other Companies
Small Business by Lee Zion
San Diego will be part of a 20-city whistle-stop tour of the country when the National Federation of Independent Business comes to town.
The NFIB, a Washington, D.C.-based business advocacy group, created the “Back on Track America” tour. The train trip, which began Nov. 15 in New York City, has been moving across the country to call attention to the importance of small business, said Jack Faris, president and chief executive officer of the NFIB.
America’s small businesses generate about 60 percent of all the nation’s jobs, he said.
The tour will carry NFIB members and others to each city, where they will join with local small business organizations, public officials, civic groups, retired executives and small business owners and employees in a series of free public events.
Jane Applegate, spokeswoman for Back on Track America, said the event was sparked by the current economic environment, which shows how mutually dependent small businesses are on each other.
“Businesses in every community are being affected by the economic downturn. That’s why Back On Track America is bringing together a cross section of big and small companies, organizations and business leaders to find real solutions to common problems,” she said.
Programs in every city include panels, roundtable discussions and one-on-one sessions on issues important to small business. Each day’s activities will feature a “town meeting” between local business leaders and elected officials with small business owners, Faris said.
The nationwide tour will make three stops in California , in Palo Alto on Jan. 14, Los Angeles on Jan. 16, and San Diego on Jan. 18.
The San Diego event will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Wyndham San Diego at Emerald Plaza in the Downtown area. To register for this free event, simply bring business cards, Faris said.
For more information, visit the Web site at (www.backontrackamerica.com).
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Looking Ahead, Looking Up: In 2002, the number of women-owned businesses will continue to grow at twice the rate of all U.S. firms, while those businesses will show significantly greater increases in employment and revenues.
That’s according to two reports from the Center for Women’s Business Research. Between 1997 and 2002, the center estimates that the number of majority-owned, privately held women-owned firms will have grown by 14 percent to 6.2 million. That compares to 7 percent growth nationwide.
During this period, sales generated by women-owned firms increased by 40 percent nationwide, nearing $1.15 trillion. These firms will employ nearly 9.2 million workers in 2002, up 30 percent from 1997, the studies said.
That’s a growth rate that is 1
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