Tag Archives: women entrepreneurs

5 Game Changing Facts You Need to Know About Women in Business Today

Did you know that women entrepreneurs account for owning almost half of all businesses in the USA?

Today more than ever, more and more women are entering the world of business. A recent study showed that one out of every eleven adult women, is a business owner in the USA. It’s not surprising since many women today are simply breaking free from gender-based stereotypes, or are re-entering the workforce or starting their own business after rearing children. Also women are just naturally wired for juggling family and work and multi-tasking.

In fact, according to research reported by the SBA in May 2016, there are more women entering the business world today, than ever before. Here are some game-changing facts worth noting:

  1. “Women are entering  the  ranks  of  business  ownership  at  record  rates.  Women  are launching a net of more than 1,100 new businesses every single day.”
  2. “Women-owned businesses comprise 36% of the country’s businesses. They employ more than 8  million workers,  7  percent of  the  private-sector workforce.  They  generate more than $1.4 trillion in revenues, contributing 4% of business revenue.”
  3. “In 2002, there  were fewer than  1  million  minority  women-owned  firms.  As  of  2012, there  are  nearly  3.8  million  firms  owned  by  women  of  color.  Between  2002  and  2012, the number of non-minority women-owned businesses grew by just 9 percent, while the number of minority women-owned businesses overall grew by 315 percent.”
  4. “Between 2007 and 2012, the number of female veteran-owned businesses increased by 295 percent. Today there  are  more  than  383,000  female  veteran-owned  businesses  in the U.S.”
  5. In fact 2015 proved to be a historic year in terms of Federal contracting because, “for the first time in history, the Federal Government met the 5 percent women-owned small business (WOSB) goal.  In  FY15, 5.05  percent  or  $17.8  billion of  all  federal  small  business eligible contracting dollars were awarded to WOSBs.”

These facts are exciting news for women entering the world of business and women looking to take their business to new heights. At WBEC-West we help women entrepreneurs everyday get the certification they need to procure essential contracts and grow their business.

This one step alone can be the game-changer you need to get your business noticed and be an increasingly successful women business entrepreneur. Learn how we can help.

Top 5 Tips to Help Women Entrepreneurs Get Ahead

Today, more and more women are opting to go into business on their own. To help them boost their chances of success, this article below has a good list of tips that can help women entrepreneurs get ahead.

Ask For Help Where Necessary

When it comes to starting and running a new business, it is important that you realize how important asking for help where necessary is. New entrepreneurs usually encounter numerous hurdles when starting their new business; this is no different for women entrepreneurs. It is therefore recommended that you look to more seasoned entrepreneurs or mentors for help in solving common business problems especially when it comes to startups.

Keep Learning

The regulations, technology and consumer tastes among others form a constantly changing business environment. This means that you have to conduct comprehensive research before starting a new venture to ensure that your business idea is viable. Even after you get the operation under way, it is recommended that you continue conducting research to identify changes as they occur and take advantage where you can.

Track your Money

One of the main reasons why most startups fail within the first five years of establishment is due to cash constraints. A business that is no longer able to meet its cash requirements due to adopting a poor cash management policy cannot be able to survive. As such it is recommended that you carefully track how cash is generated in the business and subsequently used. It is vital that the cash is used in boosting primary business operations at all times.

This is Business

Business is business; simple and clear. Operating a healthy and well performing business requires you to make some hard decisions. At the end of the day, it is important for women entrepreneurs to realize that they have to make a choice in whether they want their business to survive, and with it make the hard choices that come with it.

Make Use of Technology

In business, technology is your friend. We live in an era where there are so many technological advancements around us that can be used to make our lives easier even when it comes to business. Accounting and reporting, marketing as well as monitoring can be done with the use of technological innovations that include mobile device apps, social media and many more. Using these technological advancements not only simplifies these tasks but also helps cut costs.

Identifying what steps can help you get ahead is key. For example, getting certified is a good step towards procuring corporate contacts.

via What women small business owners need to know

Leading Ladies: Top Women Entrepreneurs of 2016

It’s difficult to narrow down all the leading women entrepreneurs of 2016 to just 15, but this impressive group is worthy of the effort. See all the leading ladies below:

Sarah Kauss, S’Well

A Colorado native and lifelong environmentalist, Kauss founded S’Well to sell a high-end version of an unlikely product: a water bottle, which goes for $45. The company booked $47 million in revenue in 2015.

Lynn Jurich, Sunrun

Jurich is out to bust the myth that solar energy is too expensive, claiming it saves homeowners 20 percent on electricity. This year Sunrun began offering homeowners energy storage facilities to save even more.

Vicki Saunders, SheEO

Saunders’s organization taps independent women investors (at as little as $1,000 a pop) to fund zero-interest loans for women entrepreneurs. SheEO is now doubling its efforts in Canada and rolling out internationally.

Jill Angelo, Genneve

Co-founded by Angelo and her partner, Jacqui Brandwynne, the personal care products maker addresses the “unsexy but real things” that come with aging. Genneve won the Women Founders Network 2016 Annual Fast Pitch Competition.

Meika Hollender, Sustain

Hollander‘s business is built on a simple fact: Women purchase 40 percent of condoms and yet marketing and packaging in the industry has always been largely male-targeted. Plus Sustain Condoms are Fair Trade-certified and nontoxic.

Trish Costello, Portfolia

With her online platform, Costello wants to expand women entrepreneurs’ circles. At this year’s United State of Women Summit at the White House, Costello stated a bold goal: $1 billion in investment in women-run enterprises.

Miki Agrawal, Thinx

With controversial marketing, Agrawal is upending the feminine hygiene market with highly absorbent, antibacterial underwear for women with periods. Ads for Thinx were banned in various U.S. cities in 2016–proving there’s no such thing as bad press.

Christine Hunsicker, Gwynnie Bee

One third of women in the U.S. wear sizes 10 to 32 but, as Hunsicker noticed, there was a gap in the $120 billion women’s apparel market. So she founded a company that rents out everyday, plus-size clothing via a subscription service.

Stephanie Tilenius, Vida Health

Coaches at Vida work one-on-one with people suffering from chronic conditions. This year, the service helped 58 percent of a group of UnitedHealthcare patients with high blood pressure lose weight over a five-month period.

Lisa Skeete Tatum, LandIt

Designed to help women out of a career rut, Landit announced a $2 million seed round in March. It provides job listings and a career playbook because, Tatum says, “the challenges of advancement, the challenges of engagement, are more acute with women.”

Kathryn Finney, Digitalundivided

In addition to serving as an accelerator for black and Latina women founders, Finney’s organization studies “the Real Unicorns of Tech,” or black women founders, who it says have received less than half of 1 percent of venture funding over the past five years.

Natalia Oberti Noguera, Pipeline Angels

Instead of writing a check to charity, Noguera’s organization helps women become angel investors and fund social enterprises run by other women. The number of U.S. cities in which Pipeline offers bootcamps surpassed 30 this year.

Janica Alvarez, Naya Health

The modernized breast pump made by Naya Health is meant to allow women to more comfortably feed their babies breast milk for longer. This year the company raised $3.9 million and received FDA clearance.

Jessica Matthews, Uncharted Play

The small, movement-powered energy systems developed by Uncharted Play are currently in jump ropes and soccer balls; next are strollers and suitcases. That’s why Williams recently closed what she says is the largest Series A round ever raised by a black woman.

Heidi Zak, ThirdLove

Few women would say shopping for a bra is a pleasant experience. That’s why Zak hopes to win customers over with an app that measures women’s bra sizes at home using just a few short questions.

Want to be part of this list? Getting certified can be a great way to procure federal and corporate contracts and take your business to new heights!
 

 

woman business owners

Are Women Better Business Owners? Here are 5 Reasons Why…

Do women make better business owners and managers? If you’re a woman thinking about starting a business and are afraid to take the first step, or if you’re a man contemplating about asking a woman to be your business partner here is some food for thought.

Here are 5 reasons why women are successful in business:

  • Research and due diligence: According to the SBA, “U.S. women have far less business failures than men,” and “The longevity of their businesses surpasses that of men’s.”
    One reason for this is that before taking the plunge into anything women are known to do their research, get all the facts together, investigate and not cut corners. This in one sense allows women to make better business decisions leading to higher business success.
  • Questions, questions, questions:  You may not like it but often women are known to ask lots of questions to get to the bottom of things. Questions help to clear doubt, remove confusion, and zero in on what really needs to be done. Clearing things up on the get-go before any business involvement, can go a long way in doing business transactions, which make women excellent business partners.
  • They listen: This might not come as a surprise but women can often be much better listeners. Although women may ask questions first, they are also careful to listen to the answers they get back. This allows a woman to quickly understand the pain points of her customers and empowers her with the information required to provide the products and services that the customer actually needs.
  • Relationships are key: This is by far one of the biggest strengths a woman has – her ability to form and develop relationships. Business relationships and networking with the right people can often form the backbone of a woman-owned businesses. Strong relationships also fuel lasting loyalty which is why women continue to be successful and profitable and are able to main long-lasting relationships with business partners, customers and employees.
  • Empathy: Some may think that being compassionate can be seen as a sign of weakness, but for many women, it’s the reason for being so successful. Having empathy allows women to build deeper relationships with employees, for example, who stay loyal and will go out of the way to help her succeed. Empathizing with customers shows them that she cares about their problems, which helps to not only build client trust but also helps her to possibly find a better solution to their problems.

    Are you a woman business owner? Which points most struck a chord with you? Let us know in the comments below!

Three Challenges Facing Women Entrepreneurs Today

No doubt, women are crucial to economic growth around the world. Unlike men women entrepreneurs see the world through a different lens. For example, in the case of Coco Chanel, she learned to be a seamstress at a very young age or Oprah Winfrey for instance, whose media business aims to help women reach their full potential.

However the numbers speak a little differently. As per the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, there are 126 million women operating new businesses and another 98 million running established ones. Yet, around the world there is a major gap with only  7 countries where women partake in business at rates equal to men.

Here in the United States women own 3 out of 10 firms, yet only employ 6% of the nation’s workforce and account for only 4% of business revenues.

That’s actually not that surprising since it’s no secret that women in business face many obstacles, from finding work-life balance to securing financing to start or grow their company.

There are three priorities that need to be in place to support women entrepreneurs.

1. Access to capital from financial institutions or micro-finance providers, as small loans can make a big difference.

2. Support from experienced mentors and trusted advisors to share industry insight and provide guidance.

For example, at WBEC-West, we’ve seen firsthand that women entrepreneurs  will often network with other women at our quarterly matchmaking events – it doesn’t matter if one woman runs a printing business and the other is a contractor – most of us face similar challenges and we can all learn from one another.

3. Business Education and entrepreneurial learning is critical to give women the confidence to see large-scale ideas through and learn the skills they need to manage their business and in turn pay it forward by becoming mentors for other women.

To assist women business owners procure more business from corporations and Federal agencies, WBEC-West provides certification for women-owned businesses, helping them get ahead of the game. Want to learn more? Click here.