Articles Tagged with: NAWBO

Value in the Valley: Empowering Women to Reach Their Highest Potential

On September 27, 2021, the Oregon Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO Oregon) will hold a virtual event entitled “Value in the Valley.” It is a message to encourage every professional woman to climb their highest mountain and become who they are capable of becoming. The guest speaker for this event is Tammy Butler Robinson.

We invite you to join us at this event. You can register here:

About the event

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, and how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou

Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once wrote that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You may know which destination you’re headed to, you may know how to get there, and you may even have that strong desire to arrive there. But you will never reach that destination if you don’t make that first, small, single step.

Our journey to greatness begins this way. We may have the passion, the drive, and the plan to make our dreams a reality. But without taking that first step, our dreams will be just that—dreams. And there’s no assurance that the journey itself will be easy. More likely than not, we’ll be called upon to make sacrifices, as well as to face setbacks and heartaches. Nonetheless, if you truly believe that your dreams are worth pursuing, that you’re willing to persevere against all challenges, that you stay true to your values, and that you exercise self-care no matter how hard it gets, you will see the value in the valley and finally reach your destination.

About NAWBO

The National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) is the unified voice of over 10 million women-owned businesses in the United States representing the fastest-growing segment of the economy.

Founded in 1975, NAWBO propels women entrepreneurs into economic, social, and political spheres of power worldwide by:

Strengthening the wealth-creating capacity of our members and promoting economic development within the entrepreneurial community
Creating innovative and effective change in the business culture
Building strategic alliances, coalitions, and affiliations
Transforming public policy and influencing opinion-makers

About Tammy Butler Robinson

Tammy Butler is a proven leader with a strong background in housing and community development, expertise in public finance and management, and a deep commitment to improving communities and the lives of women in Indiana. As a Managing Principal with Engaging Solutions, she has successfully led and managed the company’s call center business and co-managed the firm’s planning and community outreach sector. Prior to that, Tammy spent over a decade in State government as a fiscal analyst for the Indiana House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee; Assistant Director of the Indiana State Budget Agency; Director of Claims Management for the Family and Social Services Agency; and Data Director for the Office of Medicaid Policy and Planning.

Tammy’s passion for improving the lives of women and families in Indiana extends beyond her corporate life. She is pastor of The House of God Church in Indianapolis, leading a congregation whose members are among the most underserved and underrepresented populations in the state. Her problem-solving skills, knowledge, and experience engaging stakeholders in the community planning process have led to the creation of multiple programs that have changed lives.

Tammy lives in McCordsville, Indiana with her two children, Myles and Brian Jr.

NAWBO Oregon Past President Chosen for Exclusive Accelerated Growth Training

NAWBO Oregon past president and Sacred Fire Creative founder Malee Ojua joins a select group of 25 women business owners undergoing the NAWBO Accelerated Growth Program, a 10-month business leadership training created by NAWBO and sponsored by Wells-Fargo.

Portland, OR, March 2021—Sacred Fire Creative (SFC) announced the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) selected SFC CEO Malee Ojua as part of its new learning program. Open to only 25 participants, the NAWBO Accelerated Growth Program helps women business owners scale up their enterprises.

The NAWBO Accelerated Growth Program aims to increase its participants’ market competitiveness.

The NAWBO Accelerated Growth Program is an offering of the organization’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Development. The program, launched in 2021, is a top-tier educational plan designed to help women business owners increase their competitiveness in their respective markets. It’s also meant to set them up for higher levels of growth and expansion. Wells-Fargo sponsors the program.

Participants are to attend eight one-hour online learning sessions for four months. Topics covered in these sessions include developing a leadership mindset, building successful teams, strategic planning, and brand messaging. After completing the program, they will take part in mentorship/mastermind groups for six months. They will also receive other benefits that will help them grow their business.

According to NAWBO, women own 40% of all privately held companies in the country today. Still, the size of their revenues remains significantly below other types of businesses. Educating women business owners enables them to progress to the same or greater levels.

NAWBO is a network of women business owners in the US formed in 1975. Its purpose is to share resources and to provide mutual support among its members. It also lobbies economic and public policies benefiting women entrepreneurs.

Sacred Fire Creative is named one of the top digital marketing agencies in Portland.

SFC is a Portland-based digital marketing agency specializing in helping its clients build a legacy through solid branding. With a unique and robust brand, SFC clients can forge deep connections with its customers, thus creating a loyal community. Among the companies that SFC has worked with are ArisGlobal Software, RiverWest Acupuncture, Johnson & Johnson, and NYU Langone Medical Center. Expertise.com named SFC one of the top digital marketing agencies in the city.

Aside from her role as SFC head, Malee Ojua is also involved with NAWBO’s Oregon chapter. She is the chapter’s current program director and served as its president in 2020. Additionally, she hosts bimonthly virtual forums on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB). Ojua participated in the Goldman Sachs 10KSB program in 2019. A former aeronautics engineer, she founded SFC in 2014.

McMinnville, OR Business Owner Recognized by Prestigious Goldman Sachs 10KSB Program

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McMinnville, OR Business Owner Recognized by Prestigious Goldman Sachs 10KSB Program

Sacred Fire Creative, a McMinnville-based digital marketing agency founded in 2014 by Malee Ojua, has been named one of the most promising small businesses in the nation by the top investment bank.

McMinnville, OR (June 20, 2019)—When former aerospace engineer Malee Ojua first studied graphic design, she did it just for fun. She never thought it would lead her to build a successful digital marketing agency or that Goldman Sachs would eventually select her for an exclusive business development program.

“I left my career as an aerospace engineer with Top Secret government security clearance in 1998 to be with my mother after her Stage IV breast cancer diagnosis,” recalled Ojua. “Everything was moment to moment. I decided then that life is too short not to do what you are passionate about and what makes you happy.”

Her passion drove Ojua to pursue a different path from her established engineering career, in which she successfully marketed multi-billion-dollar defense satellite systems to hundreds of military generals at a time. “People have always asked me to design, to make everything look better. It’s what I do without thinking.” With her natural knack for design, Ojua went back to school and earned a degree in web development and design. In 2014, she established Sacred Fire Creative, LLC, a business she started from nothing and on her own.

“I mentioned at a women’s networking event that I was starting a side business in web design. Next thing I know, four business owners came up to me, handed me checks and told me that I needed to register my business right away. That’s how it all started,” Ojua shared.

By 2015, Ojua was working full-time at her company. Corporate accounts started coming in by 2016, first the New York University Langone Medical Center, followed by Johnson & Johnson and ArisGlobal Health. By 2017, Sacred Fire Creative posted six-figure revenues. And, in 2018, the company experienced 117% business growth.

“For me, this is the American Dream—that you can achieve success with persistent hard work and determination no matter what obstacles are in your way,” said Ojua.

“My parents are immigrants who came to the US separately, bringing with them only the clothes on their backs. Together, they built a grocery business and worked hard so that my brother, my sister, and I could live a good life,” Ojua said. “They taught us the value of hard work and the importance of giving back to the country and community that took us in.”

“I have always wanted to contribute to my community, and I do that through my business,” said Ojua. “I started this business from scratch and figured it out through the help of other women business owners and mentors. I want to show that people like me—a woman, a daughter of immigrants, and a member of ethnic minority groups—can build a successful enterprise. I am excited to give back and inspire other women and minorities like me to do the same.”

In 2017, Ojua applied for the prestigious Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program, also known as 10,000 Small Businesses or 10KSB. This education and mentorship program for entrepreneurs was developed by finance industry leader Goldman Sachs in partnership with Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

She was one of under 150 business owners invited to participate in the program from over 800 applicants.

“Being chosen to participate in 10KSB is an amazing opportunity,” said Ojua. “It opened my eyes to new avenues of growth I’d never even considered before.”

Goldman Sachs created 10KSB in 2009 with the belief that giving small business owners access to education, capital, and support is the optimum way to overcome barriers to their growth. The program’s scholars take part in a condensed and intensive MBA-like training lasting 12 weeks. The training includes guidance in building a customized growth plan, one-on-one counseling, membership to a peer support network, and support from leaders in the business world.

“These business owners represent the best of the US economy. This program helps them grow their business, create new jobs, and strengthen our communities. Nearly 70% of participants increase revenues and 50% create new jobs just six months after graduating,” said Babson College’s Richard T. Bliss, the National Academic Director of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses.

With her 10KSB diploma firmly in hand, Ojua is back in McMinnville, OR and has set her sights on certifications for her business that would allow her to offer graphic design services to government agencies on the federal level.

“I’m applying for federal SBA 8(a) Business Development Program as well as acquiring SBA Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program certifications. Also, I’m renewing our Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID), Women Business Enterprise (WBE), Minority Business Enterprise (MBE), and Emerging Small Business (ESB) certifications.”

“We’re aiming to get listed on the US General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule for Advertising and Integrated Marketing Solutions (AIMS). This will allow government buyers to purchase directly from us with pre-established pricing, terms, and conditions.”

According to Ojua, there are no other currently certified graphic design agencies in Oregon on the GSA Schedule. Sacred Fire Creative is additionally qualified for the HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone) Program certification, which even fewer agencies hold. Having these certifications, said Ojua, would further separate her company from its competitors.

“As someone with past experience working with government agencies, I truly believe we have the qualities that government buyers on the federal, state, and local level are looking for in their contractors. It’s an opportunity we are excited to explore,” Ojua said.

Sacred Fire Creative is a digital marketing agency that provides a wide range of business development services, including graphic design, web design and development, social media management, and content marketing. For more information about Sacred Fire Creative and Malee Ojua, please visit www.sacredfirecreative.com.

CONTACT:

Malee Ojua

malee@sacredfirecreative.com

503-816-3890

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Examining the 30-Year Legacy of NAWBO and the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with the Business Tribune in my capacity as Programs Director and President-Elect of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) Oregon Chapter. In that interview, I talked about how the 18-month-old NAWBO Oregon Chapter stands on the 30-year legacy of NAWBO and the groundbreaking 1988 law that made it all possible. I also spoke about the challenges that women business owners still face today.

Women’s contribution to business is previously misrepresented

Before the 1990s, the business sector’s spotlight is focused entirely on men and their contributions. Women’s contributions to business didn’t matter much. In fact, prior to the passage of the Women’s Business Ownership Act, the US Census Bureau only collected data from women business owners who operate from home. The Bureau largely disregarded data from bigger women-run corporations, known as C-corporations.

This level of misrepresentation obviously made it difficult for women back then to start up and grow their own enterprises. Gender stereotyping labeled women as high-risk borrowers, so few banks and lenders were willing to give them the funding they needed. Those that were required women borrowers to have their male relatives sign their loan applications for them. There were even stories of women having their teenaged sons sign these applications for them, if you could believe that.

Aside from lack of funding sources, women in business also didn’t have much support in terms of education and resources. Women business owners were pretty much on their own back then, to succeed or fail only by their sheer grit.

NAWBO lobbies to change the scene for women in business

Fast forward to 1975, when a group of like-minded, Washington DC-based businesswomen got together to share information and solutions to challenges faced by women in business. Led by Susan Hagar, this group of women eventually incorporated themselves as the National Association of Women Business Owners.

Initially, NAWBO endeavored to show support for women business owners by publishing a directory of women-run enterprises in the Baltimore area. NAWBO’s growing influence led the group to take part in the White House Conference on Small Businesses. They also participated in task forces and committees to bring to the fore women’s concerns and challenges in the world of business that time.

Their efforts paid off in the long run. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed H.R. 5050, also known as the Women’s Business Ownership Act. NAWBO was recognized as one of the organizations whose support made this historic law possible.

H.R. 5050 changed the landscape for women in business. For one, it scraped existing laws requiring women to get male family members to sign for their loans. For another, the Act created women’s business centers throughout the country. From these centers, women can get seed funding, training, resources, and other forms of support to start up and grow their businesses. Lastly, the Act enabled the formation of the National Women’s Business Council. The Council assists in creating policies regarding women in business.

Women in business still face challenges today

The passage of the Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988 certainly opened more doors for women in business. More than that, the law revealed the true value that businesswomen bring to the table.

Nonetheless, women business owners still face a myriad of challenges today, 30 years after President Reagan signed the Act. These issues lie mostly with finding adequate funding and gender discrimination. Entrepreneur Magazine has a great infographic that illustrates the problems that women in business still face right now.

Personally, I find finances to be a major challenge in running Sacred Fire Creative. As I mentioned in the Business Tribune article, I can be obsessive with my personal finances and the money that comes in and out of my company. So, it’s always my advice to other women business owners who are just starting up to keep track of their finances. More importantly, they should seek financing instead of using their credit cards when taking care of their business expenses.

With regards NAWBO Oregon, our focus right now is to build a strong support network for our growing membership. Eventually, once we get the numbers, we will shift our attention to advocate state-level legislation that will promote concerns of Oregon’s women business owners.

BNI Business Network International Interview with Robin Schuckmann (NAWBO)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyCLRbQiMus