Member Spotlight: Aldonna R. Ambler

A Longtime NAWBO® Member “Walks the Talk” for Women Business Owners

About 20 years ago, Aldonna Ambler was asked to conduct research on how women business owners were progressing. Her findings showed that although there were close to 10 million out there, less than 2 percent of their businesses reached more than a million dollars a year. As she looked further, the president of AMBLER Growth Strategy Consultants, Inc. (a growth strategy/management consulting firm) and longtime NAWBO® member uncovered what she calls the “5 by 5”:

• Less than 5 percent of all the corporate board appointments go to women.
• Less than 5 percent of government procurement goes to women business owners.<
• Less than 5 percent of corporate purchasing goes to women business owners.
• Less than 5 percent of all venture capital goes to women-owned businesses.
• We are 5 times more likely than our male counterparts to dissolve our business.

Two decades later, these statistics are generally still true.

“I’m amazed by this,” Aldonna says. “It makes me frustrated because I can name hundreds of women who work so hard and their clients really benefit from all their hard work—but then you start looking at their P&L and their life plan and they’re in trouble.” 

Motivated by the inequities found in her research, Aldonna made a commitment to “walk the talk” and position her business to be more representative of the broader community. “I didn’t want to be an advocate for women business owners and then later on have someone look at my company and ask, ‘How many women business owners have you used as vendors?’ ‘How many have you had as strategic alliance partners?’ So as a policy, we said, ‘Let’s have 40 percent of our subcontractors and vendors be women and see how hard it is. Frankly, it has been difficult. We’ve worked with clients in 33 countries and 49 states. There aren’t necessarily all the services you’re going to need available, but it’s worth trying.”

Aldonna’s mission has always been to be a positive force of economic development. Nothing validates a chosen path like reaching a milestone you never dreamed possible. AMBLER Growth Strategy Consultants, Inc.—located in Hammonton, New Jersey—recently surpassed the $1 billion mark in generating new revenue for women-owned businesses.

“We did the math, and that’s how much we can prove, so we know it’s a heck of a lot more,” she says. “One big chunk of the billon dollars has been through direct vendor relationships. Another has been through referrals. There have been joint ventures, growth financing, strategic alliances, corporate sponsorships and strategies we’ve generated for woman owned companies that have made them a ton of money.”

Aldonna has been a member of NAWBO® for more than 30 years and was awarded its “National Woman Business Owner of the Year” award in 2000. She has held numerous titles within the organization over the years, including Vice President of membership services, corporate relations and chapter development. Plus, she served on the nominating committee and has been a mentor to chapter leaders.

“NAWBO® has been one of the most important voices for women for years,” she says. “Most women are so busy running their companies they don’t have the time to do the lobbying or really figure out how procurement can get better. So they need someone who cared about them and makes it more possible to succeed. It can be lonely being at the top of any business. Through NAWBO® you can find others who get it, and it opens up access to resources and advice.”

In addition to her NAWBO® membership, Aldonna is also a founding member of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP). She has long served on the board and executive committee of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, and she co-chaired the New Jersey delegation to the White House Conference on Small Business—all while finding time to devote to being a speaker, author and radio talk show host.

“One of the things I do on the various boards I’m on is to make sure I’m nominating the other women,” she says. “I do a lot of mentoring to help them get on other boards and make them visible. If someone is scared to death to visit their congressman, I’ll pick up a member of the association and take her with me.”

The most important advice Aldonna can offer women looking to step into the business world is simple: Pause before starting a company and really look for an unfilled niche in the marketplace.

“Too many women throw around the word entrepreneur,” Aldonna says. “Are you building value? Are you creating something new? Is the business driven by something much larger than yourself? Could you sell your business? Those are key questions. Throwing around the word entrepreneur as though you really are one is a lie. Every time a woman does that, the media and corporations don’t believe us anymore. They can see by the numbers that the overwhelming majority of us have itty-bitty ‘incorporated careers’ and not resilient enterprises. That fact is still holding all of women back.”

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