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While women-owned businesses make up slightly less than 30% of all American businesses, they represent 55% of all new start-ups .
Women are in an entrepreneurial state of mind. There's a lot to celebrate. And a lot to do. One of the things we can do through microfinancing is provide support to women entrepreneurs around the world.
Earlier this week, ABC News interviewed Alex Counts President and CEO of the Grameen Foundation which has been a leader in themicrofinance movement.
With tiny loans, financial services and technology, we help the poor, mostly women, start self-sustaining businesses to escape poverty. Founded in 1997 by a group of friends who were inspired by the work of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, our global network of microfinance partners reaches over 4 million families in 27 countries.
In 2006, BlogHer Contributing Editor Maria Niles wrote about the microfinance movement.
Microfinance, in a nutshell, is a system of small loans made outside the traditional banking system. Microfinance has often been done in the U.S. by immigrant groups through Rotating Credit and Savings Associations (ROSCAs). ROSCAs are often used to help purchase homes or start businesses. The ROSCA format was more formally adapted famously by the Grameen Bank in order to help the rural poor in Bangladesh start small businesses. The vast majority of these loans are made to women and the repayment rate is nearly 100%.
This is the second Annual National Entrepreneurship Week sponsored by the Consortium of Entrepreneurship Education. You can watch some of the sessions live and they creating a video archive that you can view on-demand.
Some Factoids to celebrate by way of SCORE*
- In the past twenty years the number of women owned businesses has doubled and their revenues have risen five-fold.
- Women hold 13.6 perent of board seats at Fortune 500 companies.
- Women comprrise 46.6 percent of the U.S. Labor Force;50 perent of the managerial and professional speciality positions.
- Women owned businesses are as financially sound and creditworthy and are more likely to remain in business than the average U.S. Firm
- Significant proportions of women-owned businesses are in profesional, scientific, technical services and in health care and social assistance.
- The fastest growth rates of women-owned businesses are in nontraditional industries including construction, agricultural services and transportation.
In April I will celebrate 30 years as an entrepreneur -- minus that miserable 18 month detour that I took at Rapp Collins Communications. It's not that I was a reluctant entrepreneur I was just a clueless entrepreneur.
I did have a mentor - Marlene Johnson who owned a small advertising agency call Split Infinitive. She was also active in the emerging National Association of Women Business Owners. At the time I met Marlene, NAWBO was a three year old organization. Although I was a freelancing for her, Marlene encouraged me to start my own business and she was the one who helped me land that first client that launched my business.
In 1983 Marlene became the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota--the first woman to hold that office.
Today, you just have to Google Women Entrepreneurs and you can find information and networks to answer questions and share information with like-minded women.
A Sample listing:
Women Entrepreneurs Inc
Ladies Who Launch
Wild Women Entrepreneurs
Leading Women Entrepreneurs Of The World
Elana writes about business culture at FunnyBusiness
*Sources: Center for Women’s Business Research, Business Women's Network and the by Dr. Ying Lowrey. Dynamics of Women-Owned Sole Proprietorships
