SCORE Bucks County has partnered with the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, giving women business owners in Bucks County easier access to business-boosting resources.
SCORE Bucks County chairwoman Linda Zangrilli said she hopes to welcome NAWBO members into the chapter as subject matter experts leading workshops and webinars, or as certified mentors guiding the chapter’s clients in their business ventures.
“That would be a win-win,” Zangrilli said. “It’s good to have an alliance with another women’s group.”
As part of the partnership, members of SCORE Bucks County would receive discounts on NAWBO events. SCORE would also offer discounted event admission to NAWBO members.
Of SCORE Bucks County’s 51 active mentors, eight are female. Three more women are in training to become SCORE mentors, according to Zangrilli, who said she is committed to bringing more diversity into the chapter. She estimated that 80 percent of the chapter’s business clients are women.
“A lot of times they like to have a woman mentor,” said Zangrilli, who became the chapter’s first female chairwoman in 2020 and chose three other female SCORE members to serve on the chapter’s executive committee.
According to the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center, woman-owned businesses are continuing to grow. As of 2014, more than 9 million firms were women-owned, employing an additional 7.9 million people, and generating $1.4 trillion in sales. Firms owned by women account for 30 percent of all privately held firms.
In Bucks County, many of SCORE’s women clients are solopreneurs or owners of companies with only a few employees. On the other hand, businesses owned by the more than 10 million NAWBO members throughout the U.S. “are larger than the average women-owned businesses in terms of number of employees,” according to the organization’s website.
“NAWBO is a step up for a lot of women entrepreneurs,” Zangrilli said. “It might inspire [Bucks County women-owned businesses] to grow their business a little bit further.”
