The Greater Women's Business Council, Inc. (GWBC), the largest provider of certification and development resources for women business enterprises (WBEs) in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, announced nine corporations selected as its 2019 TOP Corporations of the Year.

These corporate partners, who have demonstrated a passion for inspiring, engaging, empowering and furthering the success of women-owned businesses, were recognized at a celebratory luncheon on April 30 at The St. Regis Atlanta. 

GWBC's 2019 TOP Corporations of the Year for Women's Business Enterprises are:

Accenture

AT&T

The Coca-Cola Company

Georgia Power

Randstad USA

SunTrust 

UPS

Wells Fargo

WestRock

"The success and growth of women-owned businesses in our country in recent years has been extraordinary and we're grateful to our corporate partners who have helped make this possible. That's why we're honored to showcase these 'best in class innovators' in supplier diversity and procurement as our annual TOP Corporations of the Year," said Roz Lewis, president & CEO of GWBC.

"To help put the impact of women-owned businesses in perspective, consider this from a recent American Express women-owned business study: Four out of every 10 businesses in the U.S. are now women-owned, generating a total of $1.8 trillion in revenue," added Lewis.

According to the "2018 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report" commissioned by American Express, an in-depth analysis of the period 2007-2018 showed that overall growth in women-owned businesses has continued unabated for the last 11 years:

The number of women-owned businesses surged 58 percent, while all businesses increased only 12 percent

Total employment by women-owned businesses rose 21 percent, while for all businesses it declined 0.8 percent

Total revenue of women-owned businesses jumped 46 percent, while revenue for all businesses increased 36 percent

GWBC partners with dozens of major companies who are committed to providing a sustainable foundation to bring education, training and the standardization of national certification to women businesses in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The power of these partnerships can be seen through the numbers: GWBC's constituency is comprised of more than 1,000 certified WBEs that staff more than 51,000 employees and generate more than $9.3 billion in revenue.

GWBC's TOP Corporations of the Year Awards is unique in that each corporate honoree's award is presented through a real-world testimony of a WBE partner whose business has been directly impacted by their support.  Judged by a panel of WBEs, criteria for the GWBC TOP Corporations of the Year awards include corporations that are members of the organization; have a dedicated supplier diversity program serving Georgia and the Carolinas; meet and exceed spend goals with WBEs; and actively participate in educational and development activities with WBEs in the region.

WBEs who presented at this year's TOP Corporations Awards are: ASAP Solutions Group for Accenture, Prosys Information Systems for AT&T, Ultimate Model Management, Inc. for The Coca-Cola Company, Customer Focused Strategies for Georgia Power, Primus Software Corporation for Randstad USA, Exhibits South for SunTrust, Avacend, Inc. for UPS, Innolect, Inc. for Wells Fargo, and Interprint Communications for WestRock.