BISMARCK, N.D. – Building on her work to highlight and support women-owned small businesses across North Dakota, U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp joined the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC) to discuss methods and policies that would support women entrepreneurs and help their businesses grow and thrive. 

Kari Warberg Block, founder and CEO of EarthKind in Bismarck and member of the NWBC kicked off the event. They were joined by leaders of the NWBC and more than a dozen other female small businesses owners from across North Dakota. Research from the NWBC found that women in North Dakota are opening businesses faster now than they were prior to the recession. According to the NWBC, the number of women-owned business in North Dakota jumped by over 33 percent since 2007 and is now at more than 20,000 businesses. Heitkamp, Warberg Block, and about a dozen North Dakota women entrepreneurs discussed what has led them to pursue entrepreneurship, what challenges they face, and how to better offer support and investments so they can get their businesses off the ground and grow their business.

Heitkamp also highlighted her work in the U.S. Senate to support rural entrepreneurs through her Startup Entrepreneur Empowerment Delivery (SEED) Act. The SEED Act would expand access to early stage funding for startups in rural states and small cities – which many startups say is their biggest challenge. In addition to helping women-owned businesses financially, Heitkamp also reinforced the need for family-friendly policies like the FAMILY Act that would give working families and entrepreneurs flexibility by creating a federal paid family and medical leave policy. 

“The past few years in North Dakota have served as a real example of how women-owned businesses are resilient and often defy the trends of other businesses across the country,” said Heitkamp. “Today’s discussion continued my dialogue with North Dakota’s female entrepreneurs by looking at what motivates women to start businesses, what unique challenges they face, and how we can work together to create a supportive entrepreneurial spirit. Folks like Kari Warberg Block are examples of how great business ideas can come when you’re not expecting it, and that with the right support system, you can thrive. Policies in Congress also need to support women entrepreneurs, which is why I’m continuing to push for my bill that will support small businesses trying to get off the ground in states like ours. In addition to helping women-owned businesses financially, we also need to give them the tools to succeed by supporting their families through a federal paid family and medical leave policy which would help both business owners and employees.”

“When I started EarthKind at my kitchen table in rural North Dakota, I had nothing more than an idea and a purpose,” said Kari Warberg Block, founder and CEO of EarthKind. “We had a serious problem with mice on the farm, and I knew there had to be a way to deal with it – without using poisons. When a mouse ran up my leg in a truck cab one day, I instinctively reached for my perfume, and it just clicked – that’s when my startup to deter mice with smell was born. However, getting my product to market was a huge challenge – especially from a rural area, with no money or experience. I had to get creative, so I sold a lot of vegetables at our local farmer’s market to pay for my first patent.  Senator Heitkamp knows that North Dakota’s women business owners -- whether emerging or mid-sized -- contribute significantly to North Dakota’s economy, and to the U.S. economy as a whole.  She is a strong advocate in the U.S. Senate for investing in startups, small businesses, and putting forth family-friendly policies that support workers and growing families. At NWBC’s Solutions Lab – Bismark, ND, Senator Heitkamp will further her work of improving the business climate for women business owners and entrepreneurs.”

Heitkamp and Warberg Block were joined by women business leaders included Deb Nelson from DLN Consulting in Dickinson, Sommer Jacob of Studio North and Northland Concrete & Excavation in Bismarck, Chappy Windsor from Dakota Chappy in Minot, Denise McDonough from Independent Doctors in Bismarck, Esther Morales, NWBC Executive Director, and leaders from the North Dakota Women’s Business Center, among others. In addition, Daneen Dressler from Stone Mill in Richardton - who Heitkamp met during her drought and Farm Bill tour across western North Dakota earlier this month – joined the discussion to talk about working in the agriculture industry. 

According to the 2015 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, North Dakota has roughly 23,500 women-owned businesses, which account for approximately one third of the state’s small businesses. Women-owned businesses in North Dakota account for $3.9 billion in annual sales – a 234.7 percent increase since 1997.

A new NWBC report explores and expands on the driver of necessity to encourage female entrepreneurship in the United States. The report found a main motivator to leave the traditional workforce and start home-based businesses is the high costs of childcare, as well as the need for increased flexibility. In addition, the report shows that North Dakota is among the states leading the nation for an increase in women opening businesses now compared to prior to the recession.

In March, Heitkamp reintroduced the bipartisan Supporting America’s Innovators Act with U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) to help encourage investments in small businesses and startups in smaller communities. In the Fargo-Moorhead region, about a third of startups identified accessing early stage funding as the greatest hurdle to growing their business. Heitkamp introduced her SEED Act last year to tackle that problem by investing in promising startups in ten small cities in rural states.  In addition, Heitkamp brought then-U.S. Small Business Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet to North Dakota in July 2015 to meet with North Dakota successful women-owned small businesses, and to hold the first U.S. Senate Committee on Small Businesses field hearing in Fargo on how to better support startups in rural areas.

Heitkamp recommended Kari Warberg Block for a position on the National Women’s Business Council in 2014, on which Warberg Block now sits. The National Women’s Business Council is a federal Council comprised of 15 women from around the country that advise the President, Congress, and the SBA on economic issues and concerns relevant to women business owners nationwide. Warberg Block was also honored as North Dakota’s 2013 Small Business Owner of the Year.