Accessing Capital: Fund Your Dream

Join NAWBO Memphis as we celebrate 30 years of HR 5050, the Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988. Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, this groundbreaking legislation:

• Eliminated all individual state laws that required women to have a male relative, husband, cosigner sign a business loan;

• Established the Women’s Business Center program;

• Established the Office of Women’s Business Ownership at the Small Business Administration;

• Established the National Women’s Business Council as an independent, non-partisan federal advisory council to the White House, Congress, and the Small Business Administration;

• Increased the Small Business Administration’s access to capital;

• Required the United States Census Bureau to include C Corporations when presenting data on women-owned firms, especially including women-owned C Corporations;

• Directed the Small Business Administration to provide financial assistance to private organizations geared toward women-owned small businesses.

Kim Heathcott, the award-winning CEO of Clarion Security, and 2017 NAWBO National Woman Business Owner of the Year, will lead a discussion on the vital importance of cashflow, and how we as women business owners can gain access to capital to grow and sustain our businesses. 

About Kim Heathcott

As Founder and CEO of Clarion Security, Kim has leveraged her extensive 18-year background in corporate and asset lending to smartly position Clarion to be capable of excelling during its consistent, fast-paced growth.

She holds an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University in Economics, with a minor in Business Administration. Additionally, she earned an MBA from Southern Methodist University through its Executive MBA program.

With a commitment to both the work culture of Clarion and making an impact in her Community, in June of 2013, Kim was named President of the Memphis Chapter of The National Association of Woman Business Owners (NAWBO). In 2016, as a Past President, she drove the initiative to launch NAWBO Memphis’s first Women Owned Business Accelerator Program – designed to accelerate the growth of revenue and jobs for Women Business Enterprises in the Mid-South area. She continues to earn recognition for her work in the community and also in 2013, was named a “Superwoman in Business” by Memphis Business Journal. In 2017, Kim was named Woman Business Owner of the Year by NAWBO National, and in 2018 was named CEO of the Year by Inside Memphis Business.