NAWBO Iowa has a rich history of empowering and assisting women business owners in the state. From humble beginnings in 1986 to becoming one of the fastest-growing NAWBO chapters in the nation today, the organization has grown and morphed to serve women leaders in many positive ways. This is the second installment of a three-part monthly series telling the beginnings of NAWBO Iowa and the years since.
Part 1: Energy, enthusiasm and success
After the official creation of the National Association of Women Business Owners Iowa chapter in 1987 — the organization originally started as the Roundtable in January 1986 — its takeoff and early years were rocky. It was more of a trial period for NAWBO Central Iowa — the name at the time — as it was figuring out just where it fit in the local and regional landscape.
“The membership during those years would go from being high, then drop way down,” said Pam Schoffner, a historian of sorts for the organization and a member since the beginning. “We’d have plenty of money, then the next thing you’d know, we’d have lunches back at the Royal Fork because we couldn’t afford a better venue. It was truly a roller coaster.”
As the organization attempted to gain more attention in the region, it undertook several initiatives. The leadership decided to partner with Iowa’s Small Business Administration and Des Moines Area Community College to create signature programming. NAWBO Iowa held breakfasts at the girls’ state high school basketball tournament to help create mentorship connections. It implemented several key programs, but hardly any of them stuck.
This period — a limbo of sorts — lasted the better part of two decades, as the organization tried to find its footing in Des Moines and Central Iowa.
“It was a weird time. It was like faking it until you make it,” Schoffner said. “It was a trial and error. We were feeling our way through and trying to figure out exactly what we were supposed to do to best serve women business owners.”
Finding a foothold
NAWBO Central Iowa wasn’t alone. Nationally, women business owners were feeling a bit out of place as well.
After the landmark 1988 Women’s Business Ownership Act ended discrimination in business lending, women entrepreneurs became more prominent. The increase in numbers was assisted by the economic recession of the late ’80s and early ’90s, when educated women were being laid off in large numbers and jumping into businesses of their own. According to a 1993 report, women were joining business ownership at about two times the rate of men. The report said if the trend continued, women would own about 50 percent of all businesses in the United States by 2000.
While the sharp increase wasn’t sustained — women account for just a third of business owners today — it was indicative of a change in perception regarding women entrepreneurs. Schoffner remembers going to Washington, D.C., with then-Iowa Congressman Neal Smith to campaign for a national database for women ownership numbers.
“That was a time women were trying to find their way,” Schoffner said. “We didn’t know how powerful we were or just what we were. There weren’t even statistics being kept in those years.”
The unknown partially fueled the prolonged up-and-down period NAWBO Iowa experienced. Women business owners were joining the world of business ownership, and, because of stereotypes, biases or struggles, many were dropping out as well, Schoffner said.
“There were a lot of women testing the waters of owning a business, but when they got into it, it was more than what they thought,” Schoffner said. “There were a lot of early business failures. They couldn’t get over the significant investment it took and ended up doing something else. It was also hard to get financing for women, even with the new laws.”
Weathering the storm
Between the late ’80s and the mid-2000s, NAWBO Iowa dealt with the inconsistency.
To help endure the ups and downs, NAWBO Iowa took on much of the national organization’s brand and identity. NAWBO sent representatives and experts in various fields to teach local board members about marketing, international relations or anything else the local board was interested in.
At the biannual NAWBO conference, Schoffner and local leaders connected with other NAWBO branches to learn from their models or mistakes. The leaders tried to find the right time to hold meetings, either during the day or in the evenings, and what programming would actually work. At that time, volunteer participation was poor and membership fluctuated every year.
It was an undoubtedly frustrating time for longtime members, but it was a necessary period for the organization to grow and learn.
“I look back at it, and it was a frustrating time from a leadership perspective,” Schoffner said. “But you can say that it was our self-discovery. Women didn’t have a lot of credibility in the business world at that time. There weren’t any numbers or statistics saying women were economic drivers.”
In the mid-2000s, NAWBO Iowa finally found its footing. It took drastic changes and a shift in processes to accomplish the organization’s goals. But for those who stuck it out for many years, it was a change worth taking.
“I could see that this organization was something that was bigger than us,” Schoffner said. “We needed to be a part of this and be involved to make a difference because we had something to prove. I wanted to see that through.”