Great News: Women Owned Businesses Growing, Thriving, Employing More

We loved this article from Take the Lead Women, all about how women are literally leading the way. Read the whole story for some amazing details. Women business owners are true trailblazers, and as they succeed they're paving the way for countless others! 

taketheleadwomen.com - The 11.3 million women-owned firms in this country are performing five times better than the national average of businesses, employing close to 9 million people and generating over $1.6 trillion in revenues, according to the latest American Express OPEN report.

Just to repeat for the record, that was trillion with a “t.”

The greatest growth in these companies owned by women is shown by companies owned by women of color.

In all women-owned businesses, “Comparative employment growth is even stronger. Employment in women-owned businesses has increased by 18 percent since the recession, while among all businesses employment has declined 1 percent since 2007,” the report showed.

While not at parity, women own 38 percent of small businesses in this country and revenues are increasing at a more brisk pace. “Business revenues among women-owned firms have increased by 35 percent since 2007, compared to 27 percent among all U.S. firms – thus at a rate that is 30 percent higher than the national average.”

While overall employment growth across sectors has been stalled, “employment in women-owned firms, which – according to this report – is up 18 percent  since 2007 compared to a percent decline among all U.S. firms,” the report shows. Firms owned by women with 50 to 99 employees, have seen a 27 percent increase in employment since 2007.

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WECREATE Center opens doors to Women Entrepreneurs

The Women’s Entrepreneurial Centers of Resources, Education, Access, and Training for Economic Empowerment (WECREATE) was launched last week with US Ambassador Robert Godec, and joins a number of other centers lunched to help empower women by promoting entrepreneurship opportunities globally, tailored to provide education and tools specifically to help women. The center is one of three announced by President Obama during the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in July, 2015. Read more at the link, follow WECREATE Kenya on Twitter at @WECREATEKENYA, or visit the center online to learn more.

herbusiness.co.ke - The WECREATE center opened its doors last week, launched by the US Ambassador, Bob Godec. The centre aims to mentor and empower women entrepreneurs.

Based in Lavington, the centre is a fulfillment of one of the promises made by President Barack Obama during last year’s Global Entrepreneurship Summit held in Nairobi last year.

The WECREATE Kenya Women Entrepreneurship Center is a project of the United States Department of State and the Caterpillar Foundation.

“The center should collaborate with public institutions in enhancing the skills of businesswomen and expanding their businesses beyond the borders,” Said Sicily Kariuki, the Public Service Cabinet Secretary.

The WECREATE Center is the second one to be opened in Africa and it serves as an entrepreneurial community center for women interested in starting or expanding an existing business. The Center provides mentoring, business connections, specialized training, connections to the community, media attention, access to markets and capital along with the technical tools and resources necessary for taking any business to the next level.

Read the rest here.

Why There Are So Few Women CEOs—And What Can Be Done About It

After seeing one list from North Texas naming highest paid CEOS that only included one woman, KERA News decided to look into the disparity. Sadly, the Texas list wasn't much of an anomaly: The S&P 500 includes only 22 women CEOs, or about 4.4 percent.

We loved this account of women CEOs: their scarcity, the illusion that the problem is already solved, how more women leaders can be good for business (hint: it takes more than just one woman), and how to help prepare women for jobs at the top from the beginning of their careers. Read below, and click through to listen to an interview.

Because seeing women at top positions is wonderful, but we've still got work to do before we reach gender equality.

You know those lists that come out every year ranking the highest paid CEOs? Well, one from North Texas caught our eye: there was only one woman in the 100 top paid public company CEOs.

The data, from The Dallas Morning News and Longnecker & Associates, raised two big questions: first, is Texas an anomaly? And second, does it matter for investors if women make it to the C-suite?

Pam Patsley is used to being both a powerful and petite woman. When we meet in a 15th-floor conference room in Dallas, the first thing she does is adjust the height of her chair so her black ballet flats reach the ground.

Patsley became CEO of MoneyGram International – one of the world’s largest cash-transfer firms – in 2009, right after the financial crisis. Her job was to steer the behemoth to safety, all $1 billion-plus of revenue and 300,000 locations – and she did.

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Woman-Owned Businesses Growing But Still Not Equal

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.

Read more here.