ICM is a women-owned firm, established in May 2001. We’re proud of that status, especially when we saw the stats that show women-owned businesses are growing at a rapid, healthy pace.

The number of women-owned businesses grew much faster than overall businesses over the latest period studied, a report released in late 2006 by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy says.

During the five years between 1997 and 2002, women-owned firms grew by 19.8 percent while all U.S. firms grew by 7 percent. The report also found that, in 2002:

> Women
owned 6.5 million nonfarm firms (28.2 percent of the total).

> Women-owned firms that were employers had an annual
payroll of $173.7 billion.

> Women-owned firms accounted for 6.5 percent of total
employment in U.S. firms and 4.2 percent of total receipts.

> Significant proportions of women-owned businesses were in professional, scientific, and technical services and in health care and social assistance.