The Good News…
Per a July 2007 National Women’s Business Council Report (advisors to the President, Congress and the SBA):
“The number of women-owned businesses continues to grow at twice the rate of all U.S. firms and these businesses’ economic influence is increasing at speeds exceeding the national average.
“Furthermore, women-owned firms are becoming increasingly diverse—in terms of race, industry and size. Women of color now own one in five women-owned firms and women of all colors are expanding into non-traditional industries, such as construction, manufacturing, agriculture, and transportation.
“Growth rates are higher than average among women-owned firms with $1 million or more in sales and 100 or more employees, yet, most women-owned firms are very small—with no or fewer than ten employees.”
The Not-So Good News…Are Women Entrepreneurs in Trouble?
Sadly, and much less known is the fact is that almost 80 percent of women-owned firms had revenues totaling less than $50,000 in both 1997 and 2002! (Women, are we in business or do we have an expensive hobby?…send us your comments and tell us what you think)
More interesting factoids from a federal report titled “A Demographic Review of Women’s Business Ownership”:
- Most women-owned businesses (55 percent) were in the service sector. These service businesses accounted for 23 percent of all women-owned business revenues.
- Sixteen percent of women-owned firms were in health care and social assistance, the largest division among women-owned businesses, which, however, produced only 7 percent of total women-owned business receipts in 2002.
- Another large division was professional, scientific, and technical services, 14 percent of total women-owned firms, with 8 percent of total women-owned business revenues.
- Women-owned businesses in wholesale and retail trade constituted about 17 percent of the number of businesses, but accounted for 38 percent of women-owned business revenue, slightly down from 1997.
- The New York, Los Angeles-Long Beach, Chicago, and Washington metropolitan areas had the largest numbers of women-owned businesses in both 1997 and 2002.
- The 7,240 women-owned firms with 100 employees or more accounted for $275.0 billion in gross receipts or 34.2 percent of the total receipts of women-owned employer firms in 2002.
- The largest women-owned businesses were in wholesale and retail trade and manufacturing in both 1997 and 2002.
- In 2002, women owned 6.5 million or 28.2 percent of nonfarm U.S. firms. More than 14 percent of these women-owned firms were employers, with 7.1 million workers and $173.7 billion in annual payroll.
- Women-owned firms accounted for 6.5 percent of total employment in U.S. firms in 2002 and 4.2 percent of total receipts.
- Of all women business owners, 8.33 percent claimed Hispanic heritage, 85.95 White, 8.43 percent African American, 1.23 percent American Indian and Alaska Native, 5.25 percent Asian, and 0.18 percent Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander.
- Firms owned by women increased employment by 70,000; those owned by men lost 1 million employees; those owned jointly by men and women lost 2.6 million
So, what are your thoughts - with 80% of women businesses generating $50,000 or less, ARE women entrepreneurs at risk?
This entry was posted on Friday, October 19th, 2007 at 8:38 pm and is filed under Starting a Business, Growing a Business, Women in Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.3 Responses to “Are Women Entrepreneurs at Risk?”
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October 24th, 2007 at 8:50 am
Speaking only from my experience: I was a Tupperware Consultant for a short time. I did this only to fill time while being a stay-at-home mom. While I was in college I was a self-employed house cleaner. I did this because I was allowed to have flexible hours without going the fast-food/restaurant route. I would consider myself a woman entreprenuer at that time, but I did not have long term goals in either venture.
I am now interested in starting a legitimate business, with long term goals, to improve my quality of life as well as allow me some flexibility while I balance work and children.
I think that there are many other women out there trying to fill their time while caring for children. So are we in trouble? Probably not, we just need to realize, and take into account, that many of our ventures are short term (or expensive hobbies).
November 1st, 2007 at 10:14 am
Right now, I’m working as a Independent Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay. The start up was under $150 and I received everything I needed to get started. I also use the products which I guess was a plus for me because I like products. That’s my suggestion
November 26th, 2007 at 11:31 am
I am a woman and business owner. I have owned a small technology firm for the past five years. Our first year we made very little just over 30k however since then we have doubled and then tripled our revenue continually by being innovative, and evaluation of our business processes from internal to external. My focus has always been to make sure that we used every resource as an asset and evaluated them accordingly. I would say to anyone in business that making sure you are getting the most out of every aspect of your business will make the difference in making it or breaking it. Accountability is key across the board. That includes evaluating yourself. I have never looked at myself as a “Woman” in business just as a business owner. Business itself knows no gender either you are a success or not and usually that is determined by the decisions you make.