National Women's Business Council

The National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) is a non-partisan federal advisory council created to serve as an independent source of advice and counsel to the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration on economic issues of importance to women business owners.

The Council is the government’s only independent voice for women entrepreneurs. Members are prominent women business owners and leaders of women’s business organizations. NWBC is composed of 15 members who are appointed to three-year term.

The National Women's Business Council was established as part of the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988 as an advisory body of women business owners. It was asked to identify the barriers to success for women-owned businesses and report annually to the president and Congress on their findings.

By the early 1990s, the Council had begun bringing together women business owners, policy makers, bankers, representatives of women's business organizations and other stakeholders to discuss potential solutions to the challenges facing women business owners, and to recommend these solutions to the president and Congress.

In 1994, the Small Business Reauthorization Act changed the structure of the NWBC to its current form to include both women business owners and representatives of women's business organizations. In 1998, the law was amended to expand the Council's membership to its current 15.