Contracting Basics and Woman Owned Business Certifications

As owner of a woman owned business, you may be considering leveraging your woman owned business status in the government and corporate marketplace.  Woman owned businesses can receive an advantage when selling to various Public and Private entities.

During this session we will start by providing some insights on how to determine what markets might be your best fit and what qualities are most valued in this marketplace.

We will then focus on certifications.  In most cases, a certification process must be completed to qualify.  It is important for a business to understand the certification requirements and the potential benefits prior to investing time and resources in the certification process.   This workshop will provide an overview of the woman owned business programs, application process, describe eligibility requirements as well as the benefits and obligations for certifications with:

• Federal Government agencies
• State Government agencies (including WisDOT and State of Wisconsin)
• Local Government agencies (including Milwaukee City and County, Dane County, Madison (City), MMSD)
• Corporate (Large business)

The session will conclude with some tips on marketing your certifications – to government and corporations.

Speakers: Shane Mahaffy, Lead Business Opportunity Specialist, US. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Kim Garber – Wisconsin Procurement Institute (WPI)