One in three Americans own their own business. In the first five years of entrepreneurship, women business owners generate 10% more revenue than their male competitors - yet, only three out of ten business owners are women. Why is that?
Research from Harvard Business Review shows that investors are primarily white men, so are they just sticking to what they know? Women receive, on average, $1 million less in investment capital, even though they earn 78 cents on every dollar compared to 31 cents when it comes to male-run startups. Adding 10% more women to the boardroom increases average returns by 1.5%. This can add up to 10% more in cumulative revenue over the first five years!
Men and women differ in their motivations. More women want to make a difference in the world compared to men, and don’t see the type of difference they want to see, so they make their own difference. Entrepreneurship works better for many women, giving them the much-needed work-life balance they desire. Women owned businesses draw in more diverse talent and have happier employees. More diverse talent draws in the best of the best, and discounts the talents of no one. This means that the most talented women will be drawn to working with one another. More diversity in talent = more diversity of ideas. Doing something different than the status quo, can help those businesses outperform those that are less diverse.
There are many roadblocks when it comes to female-owned businesses. Only 8% of investors are women. Female Entrepreneurs also struggle with beginning business processes, in part because there isn’t a strong support system. Start by adding more women in investment boardrooms. Help grow support groups of the female entrepreneurs in your life. Change how you listen to pitches, without assuming lack of technical knowledge based on biological sex.
If the number of women-owned businesses matched the number of male-owned businesses, the economy would add between $2.5 and $5 trillion dollars. In this time of bank crashes and inflation, more women-owned businesses may be just what we need.
See full article here: https://onlinemba.wsu.edu/blog/women-in-business/
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