PrintSeekingSitters, a Tulsa-based baby-sitter referral service, is among several enterprises that Working Mother magazine has named to its 2008 list of Best Women-Owned Companies.
"We're a working mother-founded company, and that's of big importance for us. As we grow, all of our franchises are owned by work ing mothers," said Adrienne Kallweit, the company's owner and founder.
Many of the company's sitters are moms as well.
The business, which Kallweit owns with her husband, David, was founded in 2004 and started fran chising in 2006.
Last year, it won first place in the Tulsa Entrepreneurial Spirit Award Business Plan competition, which included a $25,000 prize, office space for a year and support from the SpiritBank Business Resource Center Strategic Partner Network.
The SeekingSitters Franchise System employs six people in its Tulsa franchise office and has more than 100 sitters working in the Tulsa area. It also has 13 franchises in other states, and two more are set to open next month.
"This has been a great rec ognition as far as representing what our company was founded on," Kallweit said. "It's always been important for me to make sure other working moms can have flexibility in their schedule so they are able to have a career and still make their family a priority."
According to a recent "American Express/Count Me In" survey, 65 percent of female entrepreneurs building million-dollar businesses are also mothers.
"It's amazing to see the types of benefits that the win ning companies offer to working moms and their families," said Working Mother Editor-in-Chief Suzanne Riss, in a written statement. "Our winning business owners and entrepreneur moms have learned how to create a mom-friendly culture to attract and retain great talent no matter what the size of their companies."
Independent, women-owned firms with five to 100 employees were eligible to apply for the magazine's competition. This year's winners were chosen for their flexible schedules, creative family-friendly benefits and dedication to their communities. Winning companies also support the advancement of female employees.
Kallweit, a licensed private investigator, discovered the need for finding reliable sitter care when she started her family. She found that a need existed not only in Tulsa but nationwide.
Families who want to use the service sign up online and also go through screening to make sure they have no criminal record. The business also screens baby sitters, interviews them personally and matches them with a family based on their availability.
SeekingSitters will host a job fair for potential sitters from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel and Convention Center. Applicants are asked to bring their drivers license and a CPR card, if available.
"We have grown so much because of the service we of fer," Kallweit said. "We're really working to sign up more sitters on a real aggressive basis."
Over the next several years, Kallweit would like to see the business grow nationally into every community with a population of more than 300,000.
"We have a service that has proven to work in other communities across the nation," Kallweit said.
Laurie Winslow 581-8466 laurie.winslow@tulsaworld.com