Women Entrepreneurs As The Fastest Growing Segment Of The Economy
While the business world is still very much a male domain, women are making some serious headway. One may look at the statistics to see the explosive growth among the ladies who decide to take on the challenges of entrepreneurship. In 2002, according to the US Census Bureau, there were 6.5 million female owned businesses. In 2007, that number surged to 7.8 million in just 5 years. Currently there are more than 9.1 million female owned business in the US alone. This is up from 8.6 million just one year ago. Women are starting new business at a rate of 1,288 new businesses a day, twice that of a year ago which is 1.5 times the overall average. Those started by women are growing at approximately double the rate of those started by their male counterparts.
While one may look at the entrepreneurial rock stars like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Richard Branson and wonder where these women are. They are all over the world, but the public is still largely unaware of them. Still, women entrepreneurs are becoming the fastest growing segment of the economy, out-pacing their male counterparts at a significant rate.
There are many reasons for this. Women have a natural creativity. Female intuition is highly tuned and enables women to evaluate opportunities and people much faster and more accurately. That little voice that tells us to zig when everyone else zags is a potent tool in business that serves female entrepreneurs very well, when they listen to it. Men also have instinct but women are able to spot the subtleties of unspoken cues much quicker.
Women are natural communicators and the use of social media is pretty much mandatory. Women are already way ahead of the game on this. Let’s face it, we love to talk and do it very well. Also a female’s natural leaning is toward collaboration and cooperation whereas men tend towards competition. This is an essential skill in team building. Women also excel at listening. Being nurturers and people pleasers we are able to determine what is needed and wanted, and take care of those needs. This is not to say that men do not have this ability but we have been honing this skill for generations. Women are often more patient than their male counterparts, perhaps stemming from starting their businesses on average about 10 years later than their male counterparts. Nowadays aggressive strategies are not as effective as they once were. Women have shown they have the staying power.
Women are naturals at multitasking We can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan, and some of us make it look so darned easy. Well, most of the time, anyway. Women have been juggling the demands of the workplace and family for decades, Whereas the ability to focus is still a male advantage, it today’s distraction-filled environment, women really do shine.
As we move into 2015 female entrepreneurship is expected to be on the rise. Female entrepreneurs still face challenges, the biggest of which is attaining financing. Many women starting businesses feel that area is still largely gender-biased. However, more and more women are starting their businesses and the economy is strengthening because of it. This is actually nothing new as women have been running businesses all along, but usually alongside their husbands and their achievements largely overshadowed. This is changing as more women are stepping into their own as entrepreneurs.
