How We Help

BENEFITS OF CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE WBDC

Creating Opportunities for You to Connect with and Learn from Your Peers

In 2004, the WBDC initiated quarterly meetings for our Corporate Partners. These powerful sessions connect you to colleagues and provide timely and relevant information on current WBE (Women’s Business Enterprise) and supplier diversity issues. The group sets the agenda each quarter to address your most pressing needs.

Recognition of Your Support

The WBDC publicly recognizes your company as a Corporate Partner in WBDC marketing materials, including our quarterly online newsletter, “About Women's Business.” and our annual full-page thank-you ads in the Chicago Sun-Times and Crain’s Chicago Business.

Meeting your Needs by Growing our Database of Certified WBEs

We want your pipeline of certified WBEs to continue to grow. With a database of over 1,000 certified WBEs from our nine-state Midwestern Region, the WBDC has the largest WBE certification program in the country. We handle the certification process for women business owners in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Furthermore, our affiliation with the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) expands our WBE database to include more than 6,500 women business owners nationwide. As a Corporate Partner of the WBDC’s WBE Program, your benefits include:

• Certification services of the WBDC’s rigorous screening process. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of applications received and have increased our program to process these applications in a timely manner. We’d be pleased to help certify your database of women suppliers.
• Access to the WBDC’s growing database of women-owned firms as prospective vendors and suppliers.
• Our complete WBE database is also accessible online through WBENCLink at www.wbenclink.org/.
• Discretionary access to the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council’s nationwide database of over 6,500 WBEs. If you’re seeking WBEs outside of our nine-state Midwestern Region, please contact our PTAC Director who will conduct searches of WBENC’s national database.
• Creating Opportunities for You to Build Profitable Relationships with WBEs

• Outreach services of the WBDC’s team of experts helps  you announce contract opportunities to WBEs. Our team identifies WBEs in a particular industry and geographical area and describes your company’s WBE opportunities and programs.
• WBDC assistance with pre-bid conferences and Corporate Connections workshops provides opportunities for your buyers and your prime suppliers to meet pre-qualified potential WBE vendors one-on-one and to build relationships. If you haven’t had the chance to participate in Corporate Connections -- which can be at your facility or at an outside location--- we’d like you to join in. Corporate Connections is also a part of our annual Entrepreneurial  Woman’s Conference.

Why WBDC?

Now in its third decade, the Women’s Business Development Center serves entrepreneurs at all stages of development, from home-based businesses to established, growth-oriented, technology companies. We do this, through targeted training, professional business counseling, financial assistance, and access to a wide array of information and resources.

We’re proud of our record. Since we first opened our doors in 1986, the WBDC has assisted more than 55,000 women in the greater Chicago area and have helped establish women’s business assistance centers in six states across the nation. We’re a nationally-recognized leader with successful programs and policies that positively impact women’s economic development and business ownership. The WBDC offers its programs and services in Spanish to better serve the diverse business community.

Testimonials/Stories

Corporate Sponsors

Government Partners

The Women’s Business Development Center would not exist without the generous support of our corporate, government, foundation, and individual supporters. If you would like to learn more about how you can support the Women’s Business Development Center, please contact Hedy Ratner at hratner@wbdc.org

Marquee Government Partners
City of Chicago, Department of Community Development
Cook County, Bureau of Community Development
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Illinois Entrepreneurship Network, SBDC
Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority (MPEA)
U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Small Business Administration
U.S. Small Business Administration – Office of Women’s Business Ownership