Testimony of Adrienne M. Somerville — Senate Small Business Committee, July 26, 2023

Summary

Written testimony of Adrienne M. Somerville, founder and CEO of Adrienne Somerville Consulting Group LLC and Talent & Technical Solutions Corporation, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship at the hearing Pathways to Women's Entrepreneurship: Understanding Opportunities and Barriers, dated July 26, 2023. She describes help she received from three SBA resource partners, SCORE, the Maryland SBDC network and Women's Business Centers, including the UPSCALE initiative. The testimony names access to funding as the largest barrier and asks the Committee to reform SBA lending programs, designate SBIR and STTR funding for WOSBs, and measure equitable deployment of SSBCI allocations. It also urges reauthorization of the WBC program, citing S.2184, and an increase in FY24 WBC appropriations to $30 million.

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                    Testimony of
               Adrienne M. Somerville

Somerville Consulting Group & CEO, Talent & Technical
                Solutions Corporation

                   U.S. Senate
  Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

Pathways to Women’s Entrepreneurship: Understanding
             Opportunities and Barriers

                    July 26, 2023
Good morning, and thank you to Chair Cardin, Ranking Member Ernst, and the Members of the
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship for the opportunity to share my experience as
a female business owner and government contractor in Maryland. My name is Adrienne
Somerville. It is my honor to highlight the incredible benefit of how technical assistance helped
me in my pursuit of business ownership.

Introduction and Overview
I am the Founder and CEO of two small businesses, Adrienne Somerville Consulting Group LLC,
and Talent & Technical Solutions Corporation (TTSC). The Adrienne Somerville Consulting
Group LLC collaborates with diverse leaders to ensure their success by providing them with
ethical, transparent, repeatable, and affordable talent management solutions to improve
accountability and ownership at all levels to build strong performance because building strong
performance builds profit. In addition, the Talent & Technical Solutions Corporation (TTSC) is
focused on building IT solutions that result in data analytics to help build companies’ talent
portfolios.

Through both of my businesses, I work with companies to get smart on talent management. My
team and I are experienced in helping businesses understand their needs, identify which resources
are needed to optimize efficiency across their organizations and create a strategy to implement
these efficiencies. Interestingly, the most difficult client I have faced are those of my two
businesses. These challenges, I later learned, are similar to those that women across the nation
experience, including but not limited to accessing sources of funding, navigating available
information and tools available for business owners, and identifying effective mentorships.

Despite these obstacles, I utilized public and private support to build my companies - thanks to my
collaboration with various SBA resource partners. Navigating the unique landscape that is
entrepreneurship has taught me not only how to be effective in my craft, but the benefit of being
business savvy as well. Many women entrepreneurs, especially those starting out, continue to face
the same obstacles, and I think it is necessary to address these issues head-on to bolster the
economic opportunity of women in business.

Utilization of Resource Partners in Business Growth
In my experience growing and scaling my two businesses, I have had the opportunity to work with
three different Small Business Administration (SBA) resource partners in various capacities. I was
able to benefit from SBDC-, WBC-, and SCORE support, all of which helped me as a business
owner in different ways. I have seen firsthand the unique value and impact that each resource
partner has had in supporting business at various capacities and stages of development.
SCORE Support
SCORE supported me in my pre-business establishment. The organization provided me with
robust access to the training materials early on in the process. I was able to leverage tutorials,
manuals, books, algorithms, and structural outlines, which helped me lay the groundwork for the
creation of my business. I also benefitted from the guidance and financial pitches available through
pitch competitions, where I was connected to funding avenues that many business owners starting
out are not aware of.

SBDC Support
Once established as a business, I was connected with and benefitted from the local SBDC network
in Maryland as well, which helped me in the application of tools, identification of resources, and
establishment of local mentorship. Through this resource, I was able to identify local opportunities
in the community to support more targeted areas to have a greater impact.

WBC Support
As my business infrastructure was built out, the Balt Metro WBC and Women’s Business Center
of Virginia were able to guide me through the process with a designated program targeted for my
business. This resource was critical in providing assistance to support the needs I had as a woman
in business.

Specifically, I utilized the UPSCALE initiative, Utilizing Procurement Systems for Certifications/
Contract Awards to Accelerate and Leverage Economic Empowerment for Women Entrepreneurs.
The program provides focused support designed to meet the needs of women business owners
through training, 1:1 mentorship, panel discussions, conferences and special events, and support
programs.

I attended training on certifications, digital, IT / Communications, conferences, and more, which
allowed me to work on my access plan. Beyond 1:1 mentorship, they also frequently host specific
networking events, and hold sessions to teach you about business needs, like capital management
and forecasting.


Through this program, I was able to apply for a WOSB certification in the state of Virginia, which
opens up doors for many other small business recognitions in the state and increases my company’s
visibility and network. As a microbusiness without a development team, the WBC helped provide
a one-stop shop when approaching this certification process, which opens up doors for many other
small business recognitions in the state and increases my company’s visibility and network.

Challenges and Opportunities in Support of Women-Owned Small Businesses
Finding Funding
By far, the biggest barrier to entry in building my businesses was accessing sources of funding,
This obstacle continues to be true for women business owners across the nation. I was faced with
difficulty identifying capital opportunities to support the purchasing of business development tools
and resources, which were expensive and needed to enable my business to scale. Ultimately, it was
my work with resource partners that helped me identify these avenues for private and philanthropic
capital which took my business to the next level.

This is a trend that transcends my personal experience. A Harvard Business Review study from
2021 showed a substantial drop in venture capital funding for women-led startups in 2020 (2.3%)
compared to the prior year (2.8%) - separate from the overall decrease in VC funding. 1

When pursuing loans that are often needed to start a business, women traditionally have less
established relationships with traditional banking institutions and are unable to obtain working
capital and loans without assistance. We saw this play out over the pandemic with the inequitable
rollout of PPP funds, and are continuing to see it take place today.

As a solution, I ask the Committee for the following solutions to create capital challenges for
women business owners:
   ● Reform SBA lending programs to ensure utility for women entrepreneurs.
   ● Increase funding, and designate funding for WOSBs, to the Small Business Innovation
       Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs.
   ● Incentivize early-stage investment in women-owned companies through additional
       federal programs.
   ● Measure equitable deployment for the Department of Treasury’s State Small Business
       Credit Initiative (SSBCI) funding allocations.

Support for SBA’s Resource Partners
Finally, I have also faced the difficulty that many small business owners face navigating the
multitude of resources available for entrepreneurs and the confusion associated with which tools
to focus on for useful information that is relevant to the business. I can best compare this scenario
to drinking from the firehose. You need a strategy to be effective in your efforts. As I mentioned
earlier, SBA resources partners provided me with the tools and strategy during my entrepreneurial
journey to set me up for success.

In my experience, resources provided by the SBA were more academic in nature and helpful in
providing examples for documents, especially during the structuring of the business and the more
nascent stages of its development. It is the resource partners that each uniquely supported my needs
throughout my entrepreneurial journey.

1
  “Women-Led Startups Received Just 2.3% of VC Funding in 2020.” Harvard Business Review, 25 February 2021,
https://hbr.org/2021/02/women-led-startups-received-just-2-3-of-vc-funding-in-2020. Accessed 22 July 2023.
When considering the role of resource partners in supporting business owners, I ask that the
Committee consider:

       ● Reauthorize the WBC program, along with other resource partners, in the statute.
         Modernization of this program would enable the soon-to-be 160 WBCs across the nation
         in their support of women’s business owners. Chair Cardin recently S.2184, the Women’s
         Business Centers Improvement Act of 2023, calling for the reauthorization of the WBC
         program and bipartisan support of reauthorization is critical.2
       ● Increase appropriations FY24 funding for the WBC program to $30 million. Increased
         funding will enable WBCs to expand their reach and provide more extensive services to a
         larger number of women-owned, and all small businesses.
       ● Expand reach to economically disadvantaged regions. Develop policies and incentives to
         encourage SBA resource partners to establish centers in rural areas and economically
         disadvantaged regions. This will help ensure that entrepreneurs in these areas have access
         to vital resources and support when they continue to struggle with broadband and similar
         location-based challenges.
       ● Encourage resource partner collaboration with other Agencies and Organizations.
         Establish policies that encourage collaboration between SBA resource partners and other
         federal agencies, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions.
         This collaboration can foster a more comprehensive and coordinated approach to
         supporting small businesses.
       ● Focus on technology adoption. Support policies that enable SBA resource partners to assist
         small businesses in adopting technology solutions that can improve their operations,
         productivity, and competitiveness.
       ● Streamline Reporting and Administrative Requirements. Simplify reporting and
         administrative requirements for SBA resource partners to reduce administrative burdens
         and allow them to focus more on delivering services to small businesses.
       ● Designate marketing-specific funding for resource partner services. To increase the
         visibility and understanding of the role of SBA resource partners, designated funding for
         marketing of services can help entrepreneurs best utilize those available in their area.

Navigating the unique landscape that is entrepreneurship has taught me not only how to be
effective in my craft, but the benefit of being business savvy as well. Many women entrepreneurs,
especially those starting out, continue to face the same obstacles, and I think it is necessary to
address these issues head-on to bolster the economic opportunity of women in business.




2
    13 June 2023, https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/2184/text. Accessed 23 July 2023.
Thank you for your time and interest today in hearing my experience as a women entrepreneur, I
am honored to address the Committee and look forward to answering any questions.


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