State hires Cedar Rapids organization to study women-owned businesses

After Iowa came in last in a nationwide study of women-owned companies, the public and private sector banded together to try to improve that ranking.

Iowa was listed last for cumulative growth in the number of women-owned companies, revenue and employment in a 2012 American Express study that analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data.

Cedar Rapids-based Ascent Iowa, a not-for-profit organization, is working with the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) to launch the Stand Up and Be Counted project, an effort to identify Iowa's women-owned businesses and discover the barriers they face for growth.

"This is an economics issue," said Tina Hoffman, spokeswoman for IEDA. ""In an environment where we are trying to create wealth - to be 51st in the country (including Washington, D.C.) - we're leaving out half of the population."

Lydia Brown, a business owner and president of Ascent Iowa, said she started the organization about a year ago in response to the study.

"Finding out that we were failing in all those areas was shocking," she said.

Stand Up and Be Counted will first focus on finding out the number and types of women-owned businesses in the state. Brown said there is no comprehensive data base providing this type of information.

Ascent Iowa then will work with 10 to 12 companies in a pilot program, providing women business owners with resources and mentoring to help them achieve growth goals. It also will hold focus groups, Brown said, to help identify possible barriers preventing companies from growing.

"The objective here is to move the needle because it can't get much worse," she said.

IEDA will pay Ascent $50,000 over two years in a professional services contract.

Businesses interested in registering should go to www.ascentiowa.org.