Gill's Notes::20 Top Companies that Help Female Business Owners

By Lisa Johnson Mandell, 

While most women in America still make around 82 percent of what their male counterparts do, at least some businesses are making an effort to level the playing field for female business owners, according to the The Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

The organization recently announced its annual listing of America's top corporations for female business owners. Companies like Chevron, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Bank of America and, interestingly enough, one called "Manpower," are on the list.

The list recognizes major corporations that sponsor world-class programs that help women's business enterprises compete for corporate contracts. In other words, these major corporation make a conscious effort to circumvent the "good old boys network" when awarding contracts, and try to make sure that female-owned businesses have everything they need to compete fairly.

If you're employed by, or run a female-owned business, it would be a great idea to see if you can do business with these companies.

The 2010 Top Corporations for WBEs are

1. Accenture
2. Alcatel-Lucent
3. AT&T
4. Avis Budget Group, Inc.
5. Bank of America
6. Chevron
7. The Coca-Cola Company
8. Dell
9. Energy Future Holdings
10. Ernst & Young LLP
11. Exxon Mobil Corporation
12. IBM
13. Johnson & Johnson
14. Kelly Services
15. Manpower
16. PepsiCo, Inc.
17. Pfizer, Inc.
18. Shell Oil Company
19. UPS
20. Verizon

"We are proud to honor 20 top corporations for their world-class leadership in partnering with women's business enterprises to sustain innovation in this country and fuel our economic growth," said Linda Denny, president and CEO of WBENC. "These top corporations are deeply committed to supplier diversity programs that span their organizations and achieve measurable results."

It's interesting to note that Energy Future Holdings (formerly TXU Corp), UPS, and AT&T, have been recognized by WBENC every year since the award was created 12 years ago.

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