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 More Women Should Think Like Athletes

Fortune brings us some insight from an athlete -- and the president of the world's largest deposit bank -- on how athletic participation and the lessons learned while playing a sport can help women succeed in traditionally male-dominated careers. 

The MPW Insiders Network is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for: “How do you excel in a male-dominated industry?” is written by Karen Peetz, president of The Bank of New York Mellon.

fortune.com - A recent Ernst & Young/ESPN W survey showed that 94% of C-suite women played a sport—52% at a university level.

This was no surprise to me. I consider my experience as a field hockey and lacrosse athlete at Penn State University foundational to my professional success. It taught me about equality, competition, and grit. It helped me get to where I am today: president of one of the largest financial companies.

Women can borrow lessons from athletics to help them succeed in industries traditionally controlled by men. Here are some I’ve found to be incredibly valuable in my 34-year career:

Be assertive

Diversity in talent starts pretty equally when women enter the workforce, but drops off at mid-management and continues to decrease the higher you look in an organization. To change that, high-potential women need to speak up. Articulate myths or prejudices you want to dispel.

Earlier in my career, I knew one way to advance was through international experience. At the time, most of the management team assumed my husband, young twins, and I would never relocate. In reality, my family was supportive and up for the adventure. I lobbied hard for a move, and eventually earned a position leading a business in London. If I hadn’t spoken up, I might still be waiting for my chance. Just as in sports, visualizing your goal and desired outcome is key to career success.

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This Women's Clothing Brand Is Made For Professional Women Who Hate To Shop

It's one of the oldest and most culturally ingrained stereotypes: Women love to shop. It even may have had some basis in truth, fair or not, when women were less able to pursue their own careers. But it's not always true these days. This editor, for one, is excited to see a company offering a professional "uniform" for women--an option men have had for ages.

The fashion company MM.Lafleur, whose founders were recently interviewed in another post we shared, is bucking the stereotype and their business is thriving. Shopping is still wonderful for all of you who love it--but for women who are a little less enthusiastic about shopping, or who just want to streamline professional decision making, this is a welcome option.

fastcompany.com - "I'm so sick of the stereotype that all women are shopping-obsessed," Sarah LaFleur, the 32-year-old cofounder of the workwear brand MM.LaFleur, tells Fast Company.

After college, LaFleur spent several years working in management consulting and private equity, where she needed a rotation of crisp, smart work clothes. But she had neither the time nor the inclination to shop for them. In her few free moments, the last thing she wanted to do was browse for blazers online or at a boutique. "For some women, buying clothes is just not a priority for one reason or another, but it doesn't mean that they don't care about good style or looking elegant," she says.

LaFleur believed that there were many other female executives who felt like she did. So three years ago, she decided to do something radical. She started an online company called MM.LaFleur that challenged two deep-seated beliefs of the fashion industry: that women love the shopping experience, and want to buy trendy clothes.

She partnered with Miyako Nakamura, the former head designer at Zac Posen, to create a line of classic shift dresses, pencil skirts, and blouses in muted colors that would appeal to working women of all ages. Together, they spent hours ensuring that each outfit was tailored to fit a wide range of women's bodies. And with a third cofounder, Narie Foster, who headed up operations, they invented a system of selling these outfits to busy professional women without requiring them to spend any time shopping.

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Don't Just Get Mad at the Pay Gap—Get Ahead of It

Mind the (wage) gap: Progress toward wage equality between men and women has been slow-going in recent years, but there have been recent gains, both within companies willing to provide greater transparency and tackle inequality, and in the form of several laws recently passed and soon to be passed. But what can you do; personally; to educate yourself, know your rights, negotiate and advocate for your own fair share? Women's Health Mag has you covered. womenshealthmag.com - We’ve all heard the awful numbers: Pew research pegs the pay gap at 84 cents to a man’s dollar; a White House report has it even wider, with women at 78 cents. And apparently, it will be 118 years—nope, not an exaggeration—before men and women earn equivalent salaries for the same work, the World Economic Forum estimates. We say: not acceptable.

A growing number of companies agree and are already implementing change. Gap made its figures public in 2014; shareholders of Wal-Mart pushed for greater salary transparency last year. And global consulting firm Accenture now identifies pay discrepancies, guides women through all stages of their careers, and has pledged to grow the percentage of females it hires to at least 40 percent by 2017.

Legal reform is on the rise too: California’s Fair Pay Act, which went into effect in January, puts the burden on public and private companies to prove they haven't discriminated against women. If two people do comparable work, companies will be expected to pay them the same. “The law makes it clear that you have to look at the substance of what people do, not just their titles of positions,” says Jennifer Reisch, legal director ofEqual Rights Advocates. (The new law has employee’s backs in another way: by ensuring that they can openly discuss salaries with coworkers without fearing for their jobs.) Following California’s lead, New York enacted the Achieve Pay Equality bill last year, says Reisch, and Washington, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island to do the same soon.

Read  the rest here.