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Women entrepreneurs are slaying it around the world. In the past 18 years, female-owned firms have flourished at an amazing growth rate of 74 percent. This rate outpaced all other privately-owned businesses of this period and tops all but the largest publicly owned businesses, according to the 2015 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report. So, not only are women entrepreneurs making a name in the game, but they’re killing it, too.
Why is this? Once a woman starts a business, she’s more likely to experience success than others. Entrepreneurship requires not only the keen ability to sense a community’s needs but also the initiative and instinct required to adequately fill those needs. According to the 2015 Kauffman Index, women are better equipped in these areas. “Women entrepreneurs are more adept than their male counterparts at seeing gaps in the market and seizing the opportunity,” says Forbes.
Contrary to stereotype-soaked jokes hurled at women about oversensitivity, it is this ability that gives female entrepreneurs their competitive edge over men.
For the women who face discrimination as employees in workplaces they do not own, the growing movement of female entrepreneurship is both exciting and inspiring.
But this trend is a proud one for minorities in more ways than one. Women are leading in entrepreneurship, but more specifically, it is minority women that are leading the movement.
In 2015, nearly 500 of the new female-owned businesses started each day were owned by minority women, compared to 402 non-minority owned projects. The biggest minority demographic represented was African-American women followed by Hispanic women.
“Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the US,” Forbes reports. “They own 1.5 million businesses between them, up 322% since 1997. Their companies generate $44 billion a year.”
The increased ownership of businesses by women is equipping women to steer the fate of their communities. As the 2015 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report states, because Latina women own 37 percent of all Latin-owned businesses and Native American women own a whopping 48 percent of all Native American-owned businesses, they are at the forefront of their communities.
This comes as wonderful news, considering women entrepreneurs are more likely to assess the social needs of their communities and establish businesses to address those needs. Between 2002-2015, the fastest-growing industry for female-owned businesses was the education industry, which had experienced exponential growth of 139 percent.
Now that these inspirational women are participating increasingly in industries that shape their communities, women are gaining more power to shape these communities than ever before. Finally, it seems that the autonomy, influence and authority for which women have been working is coming to fruition.
