Any recommendations on certification as a Woman Owned Business?

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August 09, 2021

by a searcher in Alpharetta, GA, USA

I am transferring 75% equity interest in one of my operating entities to my wife and want to get it certified as a woman-owned business enterprise. Does anyone have experience with this and recommend a provider to use for the certification process?

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Reply by a searcher
in Boston, MA, USA
https://www.wbenc.org/ probably your best starting point. WBEs, like VOSB/SDVOSB, can self-certify. However, there are a few SBA-approved third party orgs to certify status. WBENC is the largest of those four.

One watch-out:
Similar to veteran-owned / service-disabled veteran-owned businesses, there is both an ownership and a "control" component - i.e. the business basically needs to be both owned and operated by the person holding that special status. So she can't just be an owner on paper; she (or another woman American citizen) needs to be operating and controlling the business on a daily basis. As far as my research has shown, this is one of the most common dimensions on which a challenge of status may be issued.
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