Women Entrepreneurs
Women Entrepreneurs
Listed below is valuable and informative content we have
obtained to assist women in business. We have also provided
several national resources to help you manage your business in
addition to the available programs in your local state
government. Simply click on one of the topics below to learn more.
OVERVIEW
Women are making a difference in the business world. As
chronicled by the National Foundation for Women Business Owners,
flexible scheduling, employee autonomy, and treating workers as
part of the family are all innovations championed by women. While
introducing a “kinder, gentler” approach to the
workplace, women business owners are also interested in the
bottom line. In a 2004 membership survey, members of the National
Association of Women Business Owners cited business marketing,
business growth and expansion, cash flow and capital, client
budget constraints, and time management as their top business
concerns.
Many women are creatively integrating a home-based business
with family responsibilities. Not only are
“mompreneurs” able to spend more time with their
children, they are also using the opportunity to teach their kids
about business, money, and the value of hard work.
Young women and girls are increasingly becoming interested in
entrepreneurship, presumably fuelling even higher future growth
rates. The Office of Women’s Business Ownership has a Web
site to introduce girls to entrepreneurship (www.discoverbusiness.com), and camps are offered to
teenage girls at several universities. Mother and Daughter
Entrepreneurs – In Teams, is sponsored by the Marion Ewing
Kauffman Foundation for 13- and 14- year-old girls and their
moms.
Sources: Center for Women’s Research, Entrepreneur.com
TOP FACTS
The following is an overview of a report compiled by the
Center for Women’s Business Research. For more in depth
information, check out the full report in the “Key Facts
About Women Business Owners and Their Enterprises” section
of this site, or at National Women’s Business Council site
at www.nwbc.gov.
Back to top
The Overall Picture
- Nearly half (48%) of all privately-held U.S. firms are 50%
or more women-owned. This means that 10.6 million firms are at
least half owned by a woman or women.
- These firms employ 19.1 million people and generate nearly
$2.5 trillion in sales.
- Between 1997 and 2004, privately-held 50% or more
women-owned firms diversified into all industries with the
fastest growth in construction (30% growth), transportation,
communications, and public utilities (20% growth), and
agricultural services (24% growth).
- The estimated growth rate in the number of women-owned
firms was nearly twice that of all firms (17% vs. 9%),
employment expanded at twice the rate of all firms (24% vs.
12%), and estimated revenues kept pace with all firms (39% vs.
34%).
Businesses Owned By Women Of Color
- As of 2004, women of color owned an estimated 1.4 million
privately-held firms in the U.S., employing nearly 1.3 million
people and generating nearly $147 billion in sales.
- Firms majority (51% or more) owned by women of color now
represent 21% of all privately-held firms majority-owned by
women, meaning that one in five such firms is owned by a woman
or women of color. Women of color own 36% of all firms owned by
persons of color.
- Between 1997 and 2004, the number of privately-held firms
majority-owned (51% or more) by women of color is estimated to
have increased six times faster than the number of all U.S.
firms (55% vs. 9%). During the same time period employment
increased by 62% and sales by 74% among firms owned by women of
color.
Economic Leadership
- Between 1997 and 2004, the number of 50% or more
women-owned firms increased at nearly twice the rate of all
firms (17% vs. 9%), employment expanded at twice the rate of
all firms (24% vs. 12%) and estimated revenue growth was just
ahead of all firms (39% vs. 34%).
- Annual expenditures by women-owned enterprises for just
four areas ? information technology, telecommunications, human
resources services, and shipping ? are estimated to be $103
billion.
- Although a majority of both women and men owners of
businesses with revenues of $1 million or more started their
firms, women owners were more likely to have started their
companies than men owners (73% vs. 60%), rather than have
purchased, inherited, or acquired in some other way.
- The majority (72%) of women business owners surveyed in
2003 who were successful in obtaining expansion capital and had
set specific expansion goals were found to have achieved or
exceeded their goals.
- Eighty-six percent (86%) of women entrepreneurs say they
use the same products and services at home as they do in their
businesses.
- Women business owners are philanthropically active: 68%
volunteer at least once a month; 31% contribute $5,000 or more
annually to charities and 15% give $10,000 or more.
Back to top
Women Business Owners As Employers
- The number of 50% or more women-owned firms with employees
expanded by an estimated 28% between 1997 and 2004, three times
the growth rate of all firms with employees.
- Privately-held 50% or more women-owned firms are just as
likely as all privately-held firms to have employees (23% of
women-owned firms compared to 25% of all firms).
- Women-owned businesses spend an estimated $546 billion on
salaries and benefits annually ($492 billion on salaries and
$54 billion for employee benefits ? health, retirement and
insurance). Health benefits comprise the largest share of
benefit expenditures, with 2004 spending estimated at $38
billion.
Financially Strong
- Women-owned businesses are just as financially strong and
creditworthy as the average U.S. firm, with similar performance
on bill payment and similar levels of credit risk, and are just
as likely to remain in business.
- Women-owned firms with revenues of $1 million or more use a
greater array of financial strategies and products than smaller
firms owned by women. They are more likely to use business
loans, business credit cards, equipment leasing, and to
negotiate more advantageous terms for accounts payable and
customer payments.
- When seeking a financial advisor, high net worth women are
more likely than their men counterparts to say it is important
to feel confident that the advisor is "acting in your best
interest" (93% vs. 83%).
Access To Markets
- Although 60% of Fortune 1000 corporations annual spend $1
billion or more with outside suppliers, as of 2003, women's
business enterprises captured on average only 4% of this market
share.
- Women-owned businesses with $1 million or more in revenues
are more likely than smaller businesses owned by women to have
large corporations (34% vs. 12%) and the government (31% vs.
8%) as their primary clients.
- Fifteen percent of women-owned businesses with revenues of
$1 million or more characterize their primary market as
international. More than two-thirds of these women (69%) are
involved in international contracts and almost half of them
(49%) export directly.
Characteristics Of Women Business Owners
- Women business owners are more willing than other women or
men to take above average or substantial financial risks when
saving or investing for their households (57% of women business
owners, 14% of women in general and 26% of men in
general).
- Women business owners are even more risk-tolerant when
investing for their business than their households. Most women
business owners (66%) are willing to take above average or
substantial risks when investing for their businesses.
- Women emphasize relationship building as well as gathering
facts; are more likely to consult with others, including
experts, employees, and fellow business owners; and may take
more time to make decisions.
- Women owners of businesses with revenues of $1 million or
more are more likely to belong to formal business
organizations, associations, or networks than other women
business owners (81% vs. 61%).
For more in depth information, check out the full report in
the “ Key
Facts About Women Business Owners and Their
Enterprises ” section of this site, or at National
Women’s Business Council site at www.nwbc.gov.
Back to top
|
Home |
