Official Summit Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Julie Towner
NAWBO-KC President
314.560.2225
jtowner@townerkc.com
NAWBO-KC Announces Keynote for Women in Business Summit
International women’s business advocate Virginia Littlejohn will headline Oct. 18 summit.
Kansas City, MO – August 1, 2018 – Virginia Littlejohn, the president of Quantum Leaps, a global accelerator for women’s entrepreneurship, is the keynote speaker for NAWBO-KC’s second annual Women in Business Summit.
Littlejohn was one of the three primary architects of HR 5050, the Women’s Business Ownership Act signed by President Reagan 30 years ago on October 25, 1988. Among its provisions to address the needs of women business owners, the law eliminated discriminatory lending practices against women business owners.
The event is October 18, 9 a.m. -4:30 p.m., at Lidia’s Kansas City. Early bird tickets are available beginning August 20 at $100 for NAWBO members; $125 for non-members. After Sept. 4, tickets will be $150 for NAWBO members; $175 for non-members
The summit brings together women entrepreneurs in Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska for a day of education, ideation and networking. In addition to Littlejohn’s keynote, a workshop on business sustainability and breakout sessions on increasing revenues and growing through referrals will be led by speakers who are innovators in their field. The summit will also feature a panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities for women-owned businesses. The event will wrap up with a happy hour that begins at 4:30 p.m.
Littlejohn was an advisor to the U.S. Interagency Committee on Women’s Business Enterprise during the Carter Administration in the late 1970s. She coordinated the national lobbying effort to get the Small Business Administration’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership funded in 1980.
In 1984-1985, Littlejohn was president of national NAWBO, organized NAWBO’s first two national public affairs days and was a primary architect of the U.S. Women’s Business Ownership Act of 1988. She served two terms on the National Women’s Business Council, advising Congress, the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. president.
Littlejohn was a delegate to all three White House Conferences on Small Business in 1980, 1986 and 1995, and chaired NAWBO’s historic White House Conference effort in 1986, for which NAWBO had more delegates than any other small business association.
She also co-authored NAWBO’s set of policy issues, “Framework for the Future,” of which 26 of the 27 were adopted at the 1986 White House Conference.
Littlejohn is currently involved with several international policy initiatives that promote women entrepreneurs. She is the chair of women’s entrepreneurship for the Women’s 20 for the G20 countries (including women entrepreneurial issues related to labor force participation, digital, financial and rural inclusion working groups, plus FinTech, Blockchain, capacity building, and upgrading of global value chains). She is also the lead international strategist for SheTrades—the Women and Trade Initiative of the International Trade Centre, a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization. In that role, she works on women’s access to corporate and public procurement, international and digital markets, plus access to finance and capacity building.
Additional details are available at www.nawbokc.org/women-in-business-summit.
About the National Association of Women Business Owners
Founded in 1975, the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) is the unified voice of more than 10 million women-owned businesses in the United States. It is the only dues-based organization representing the interests of all women entrepreneurs across all industries; and with chapters across the country. The mission of NAWBO is to propel women business owners into greater economic, social and political spheres of power worldwide.
Respected with elected officials in Washington, D.C., and state capitals across the country, recognized in the media as a thought leader on women’s business issues and joined with corporate partners and other non-profit organizations who share our mission and expand our influence, NAWBO is the country’s premier women’s business organization.