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f Christine Bierman has her way, dozens of women-owned
firms will be in line for government contracts to
help rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan.
Her
company, Colt Safety, Fire & Rescue, is WBENC-certified
and she is actively seeking government contracts
for her growing firm and others like her.
Bierman
is an active member of the St. Louis Chapter of
the Women Presidents' Organization (www.wpo.org)
and the chapter has been actively working to gather
resumes of women-owned companies with an interest
in working together on an Afghani project for the
State Department. She sent the request out nationwide
through her WPO and WBENC network and received a
flood of resumes - so the interest is there.
Women
Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) is also actively
involved in helping to gather resumes and is advocating
on the Hill for women-owned firms to get their fair
share in the reconstruction process.
For
now, Bierman says progress is slow, but she has
high hopes. "I attended an Iraqi reconstruction
conference in July and received a call from one
of the speakers who was looking for the names of
women-owned firms. I am confident that they want
to work with the women in our network. We hope to
be able to report more progress soon."
(This
article is reprinted from the Fall 2003 edition
of Enterprising Women magazine. Copyright
2003, Enterprising Women Inc. Reproduction in whole
or part is prohibited, except by permission of the
publisher.)
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