Candace Klein, Chief Strategy Officer at Dealstruck, covers trends in women-owned businesses for Crowdfund Insider. Women still lag behind men in starting and running businesses, but they're catching up—and growing at faster rates than men in many respects. For example, they are very strong in certain high-growth industries like education and health and beauty, they added jobs during the economic downturn, and they often borrow less—taking on less risk—even as their businesses are keeping pace with corresponding male-led companies. Klein unpacks these and other facts and statistics; showing that despite daunting odds, women are still building enterprises—and thriving. Read the full article on Crowdfund Insider, and keep supporting women entrepreneurs.

crowdfundinsider.com - A common theme in business and finance circles is that women are underrepresented, less capitalized, and face an uphill battle when it comes to building and financing their small businesses. While the statistics may bear this out to some degree, the women-owned business horizon is markedly better than the picture painted by this conventional data.

It is true that though women represent slightly over half of the U.S. population, they only own 30% of the businesses.

It is true that they employ a mere 6% of American workers. And it is true that their sales are 25% of those of male-owned small businesses. However, it is also true that women-owned businesses are growing at a rate of 1,200 per day, far outpacing the growth rate of those owned by men, and one-and-a-half times the national average. Four out of ten new businesses are now owned by women. And women own a greater share of enterprises that are in high-growth service industries, like education and health care, giving them a great deal of opportunity for continued expansion.

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