More resources for women entrepreneurs in every state: What does it mean for your small business?
April 6, 2022 2:14 pm Leave your thoughts
Small businesses are the engine of economic growth. Entrepreneurs share a drive to see their solution to a problem become the life hack that everyone uses. They also want to support their local community with an economic anchor, a source of income and a home away from home for their friends and neighbors. To achieve this, small business owners need access to financing, professional services that enhance and protect their capital investments and the opportunity to grow their business.
According to the online business registration company, Incfile.com, the rate of women starting a business in 2021 grew 48% over the previous year. Moreover, women outpaced the rate of men starting a small business by 22% last year. Why does this matter?
According to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) women-owned businesses account for:
- $1.7 trillion in sales
- Nine million jobs
- One in five firms grossing $1 million in the country
The recovery and future of our national economy can be measured, in part, by the health of women-owned companies.
There are differences for women entrepreneurs in the United States
As greater numbers of women, including Black, Hispanic and Indigenous females, join the ranks of hundreds of thousands of businesswomen, more attention is being paid to the unique needs of female entrepreneurs.
For example, according to the 2019 State of Women-Owned Businesses report, 21% of female-led enterprises are owned by Black women. However, Black women-owned ventures "earned average revenue of $24,000 per firm vs. $142,900 among all women-owned businesses."
The gender gap in small business revenue is even more stark. An analysis of 30,000 companies' revenue by BizCredit found the average revenue for a women-owned business was $384,359 in 2019. Compare that to men-owned firms that realized an average revenue of $752,154 in the same year. That is a 64.7% difference in average revenue. Granted, a lot of variables determine a company's revenue such as leadership ability, customer loyalty, operational efficiency and business model. However, it's clear that women-owned businesses aren't showing the revenue that their male-owned counterparts do.
Taking this example one step further, the number of women in the CEO role in the financial services sector is the second lowest (12%) after the energy sector, with women making up only 9% of the sector's chief executives. This is to say that we have a way to go in order to support the increase in women in the CEO chair at the table.
Businesswomen need resources – personal, financial and professional – to support their commercial and entrepreneurial endeavors.
The SBA made a historic announcement for female entrepreneurs and CEOs
In March 2022, the Small Business Administration (SBA) announced the expansion of Women's Business Centers (WBC) into Anchorage, Alaska, making it the final state to offer female entrepreneurs much-needed resources through the WBC network.
In the last year, 24 new WBCs opened. Today, the network covers more territory than it has since it was formed in 1979. To find the WBC nearest you, use the SBA online locator.
Not only is the latest WBC in Alaska part of a welcome trend of improving the chances of these women-owned businesses to survive, but it also increases the chance that they'll thrive.
How do WBCs contribute to the health of women-owned small businesses?
According to Assistant Administrator of the Office of Women Business Owners (OWBO), Natalie Madeira Cofield, in 2021, WBCs helped 88,000 businesses (including 3,000 startups) that made 86,000 jobs and
performed $1.4 million in capital transactions. Those numbers show the impact of WBCs, but how do they help entrepreneurs, specifically?
These WBCs offer:
- Multilingual counseling for new female-led startups.
- Inexpensive training on crucial topics such as running a business, raising capital, digital marketing and recovering from an economic downturn.
- Free online training and education for women business owners to hear success stories and learn about benchmarking and access self-assessment tools.
- Free courses online for women thinking about starting a business to help them identify their skills and strengths and how to infuse that self-awareness into their new business plan or improve upon a plan.
- Mentoring between seasoned businesswomen and new owners..
- Assistance through other SBA programs such as the 8(a) Business Development Program and the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Federal Contracting program.
If you are a woman-led small business with questions, the Law Offices of Donald L. Hudspeth has been a supporter of small business growth from its inception. Contact us should you need our services for your business.
Categorised in: Starting a Business in Arizona
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