Fact Sheet
- Studies have shown that successful women entrepreneurs start their businesses as a second or third profession. The driving force behind starting one’s own business is the desire to be one’s own boss. (http://www.go4funding.com/Articles/Entrepreneur/Some-Facts-About-Women-Entrepreneurs.aspx)
- Because of their previous careers, women entrepreneurs enter the business world later on in life, around 40-60 years old. Many of them have higher education degrees, a significant characteristic that many successful female entrepreneurs have in common. (ibid)
- Recent studies also indicate that women entrepreneurs are assembling themselves into groups or confederacies. The reasons behind this trend have to do with the desire to establish solid women business networks, where members can collectively pool resources and expertise together. (ibid)
- Women start companies at 1.5 times the average rate in the United States. (http://www.inc.com/lisa-calhoun/30-surprising-facts-about-female-founders.html)
- Women entrepreneurs in the United States rank their happiness at nearly three times that of women who are not entrepreneurs or established business owners. (ibid)
- Almost half-of female founders (48 percent) cite a lack of available mentors or advisers as holding them back. (ibid)
- 10 percent of the female population are thinking about starting up a business (Women in Business: key facts, Government Equalities Office 2008)
- In every single economy included in the study, women have lower capabilities perceptions than men. In every region, women have, on average, a greater level of fear of failure than men. (Global Report on Women and Entrepreneurship, GEM 2012)
- Attitudes to entrepreneurship among women (and men) are changing. There is generally a more positive feeling about the opportunities involved in starting your own business. But the data also indicates that women still tend to be more disadvantaged than men by cultural factors which result in them relatively lacking confidence in their entrepreneurial skills, their ability to spot good business opportunities, and confidence in their ability to succeed in business. These are all areas where effective business support can make a real difference. (http://www.isbe.org.uk/facts#womenwant)
- In the past 15 years, the number of women-owned businesses grew by 54 percent; there are now 8.3 million women-owned businesses in the United States. (http://mashable.com/2012/08/14/facts-women-business/#ZpENFCqtmmqj)
- Women-led businesses are succeeding. With strong women at the helm, something interesting (but unsurprising) is happening to their businesses: They are growing at a higher rate than their traditional, male-led counterparts. Over the past 10 years, the growth in the number of women-owned firms with $10 million or more in revenues has increased by 56.6 percent, a rate 47 percent faster than the rate of growth of all $10 million-plus firms. (http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/16/now-is-the-perfect-time-to-be-a-female-entrepreneur/#.oj4lng:biVy)