WBE stands for “Woman Business Enterprise”. WBE’s can obtain one or more levels of certification to increase your chances of getting projects from the government and Corporate America.
WBE certification is a certification that is obtained from a certifying agency to confirm that a business is 51% owned, controlled, and operated by one or more women. There are different types and levels of certification, and this article will explain the different levels. There are some WBE’s that would not really benefit from having a WBE certification. If you don’t sell a product or service that the government or large corporations buy, then it would be a waste of effort to obtain a WBE certification.
But if you would like to sell your products or services to these cash rich government and corporate clients, then you should definitely consider obtaining a WBE certification. One reason a WBE certification can be valuable is because government agencies and many corporations MUST award a certain percentage of business each and every year to WBE enterprises. Your WBE certification allows you to prove that you meet the requirement of being a woman-owned business.
Here are some of the ways you can be certified: 1. Locally 2. With the state 3. With the federal government 4. Nationally
Each of these levels of certification will now be looked at in further detail.
Local WBE Certification
A local government agency awards local certifications. Your business should obtain a local WBE certification if wanting to do business with a particular local government agency and desiring to increase your chances of getting them as a client.
Certifying with the state
Most states have a state MBE/WBE office where you will obtain your state certification. That state certification is necessary if you want to sell to one or more state government agencies with increased likelihood of getting the work. To obtain a state WBE certification, you contact the MBE/WBE certification office in the state in which you want to be certified. You can then fill out whatever paperwork they require.
Certifying at the federal level
To obtain a federal certification, there is actually no formal certification process. Federal WBE certifications are self-certifying. If you want to sell to the U.S. federal government, then you can self-certify that you are a WBE. Self-certifying basically means that you just sign and acknowledge on the bids that you submit to them that you are 51% owned, controlled, and operated by a woman. If you are later awarded a project with the federal government, they may ask you to prove your WBE status, but in most cases, they do not. But dont say you are a WBE if you are not.
With no formal WBE application process for the federal government, this means that you can get started right away in responding to federal government opportunities and leverage your WBE status (once you are registered as a federal government vendor with CCR, etc.). And the federal government has mandatory goals to award 5% of their projects each year to woman owned businesses. (That statistic was current as of September 2009, but the exact percentage can change over time).
The key point is that the federal government has projects that are set-aside just for WBEs. So this is a great opportunity for you to take advantage of special projects that have been designed just for women owned businesses!
Certifying at the national level
National certifications can be obtained by filing an application with the Women’s Business Enterprise National Counsel (www.wbenc.org). You should pursue a national WBE certification if you want to have large corporations as clients. Some large corporations will accept a state certification, so before you rush out and get a national certification, you should first check and see what is required by the specific corporations you want to have as clients. But many large corporations will want you to have a national certification from WBENC before they want to work with you. So if you plan to do a lot of business with various large corporations, then you should definitely consider a national certification.
