Spotlight on Women Entrepreneurs Around The World

Posted on 13. Jan, 2010 by Natalie in Entrepreneurs, Highlights, Inspiration & Motivation

For some time I’ve been building up some fascinating data on the progress of female entrepreneurs around the world.

I want to know what the situation is like for women in different countries when it comes to business. What factors come into play from a cultural perspective as well as from a historical and political standpoint.

The spotlight this week is on female entrepreneurs in the USA.

I was really heartened to read a recent article on Forbes.com that shows women are becoming the nation’s job-creation engine, starting new businesses and completely outdoing our male counterparts. Yes, women who own businesses in the US will be responsible for creating one-third of the 15.3 million new jobs anticipated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics by 2018!

You should definitely read the article but here the key highlights from a newly published report by The Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute that excited me most:

Female small-business owners are focused on making work more enjoyable

Not only are women creating a positive work environment and more opportunities for other people, they’re also giving their employees a reason to feel better as a part of the team, paying the more and looking after their healthcare.

Female entrepreneurs are more concerned about building a lasting business

Women are adept at keeping the customers they have and cultivating customers who appreciate what they do. They are skilled at differentiating their businesses from competitors in a meaningful way, knowing what other small businesses are doing to improve, succeed or fail, and taking advantage of economic conditions.

Women are more open to taking advice and seeking valuable information

Women entrepreneurs seek input from their employees, chief operating officers, chief financial officers, accountants and financial advisors. They’re becoming better at taking a longer-term view of their businesses including having a succession plan in place, a retirement plan and something to sell at retirement to ensure they’re able to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

I really look forward to more people like Mark Wolf, the director of the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute, to produce more research on the way women are impacting the world. Next week I’ll take a look at European entrepreneurs.

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Tags: Building Businesses to last, Job creation, US Female Entrepreneurs