More women are starting businesses today than ever before. In fact, the number of women-owned businesses grew 58% between 2007 and 2018 - nearly five times faster than the national average1 - and the trend continues. Additionally, in 2018 the women-owned businesses that had over $1 million in revenue increased revenues 46% over the past 11 years in comparison to 12% growth for all U.S. businesses. These growth rates are reasons to celebrate the many new women-led businesses that exist today. However, impediments to scaling businesses still remain.
To better understand those obstacles, a research project was launched by Babson’s Center for Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership (CWEL) and Bank of America Private Bank. Ultimately, findings revealed that women who have built successful companies had to navigate significant gender-based obstacles. In doing so, these women created alternate paths to success for themselves, and for other determined female entrepreneurs.
Women face significant challenges in obtaining venture funding but what happens once they've moved into the growth phase? Research reveals women entrepreneurs run into gender-based impediments but develop successful strategies to overcome them. https://t.co/tRBlVb7BLa
— Ashley (@Ashscallion) October 18, 2019
Three key themes emerged relating to the challenges women entrepreneurs faced when growing their businesses:
Through interviews, Beyond the Bucks lead author and Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, Lakshmi Balachandra, also uncovered novel strategies that these entrepreneurs developed and utilized in order to be successful. Click the links below to read the report and learn more about them.
[1] The 2018 State of Women-Owned Businesses Report: Summary of Key Trends, American Express, 2019
”There's still very much the boys’ network, especially in my marketplace. We’re all there at the trade show, and we go out afterwards. But because I’m often the only woman there, I have just one drink and then go back to the hotel room. I prefer to use the time to call my kids, get caught up on my emails, and get ready for the next day.”
– Nancy Cwynar, CEO, Action Health
“Given my business was in baby products and I am a mother of four, I felt it gave me credibility, which was a positive, but only within the customer’s eyes. Business people didn’t, and still don’t, take me seriously a lot of the time, despite the fact that I worked hard – I built a business from scratch that now generates over $100 million in annual revenue and ended up a very successful entrepreneur.”
- Raegan Moya-Jones, Co-Founder & Former CEO, Aden & Anais
“I didn’t think age would be an issue because I've been around young men that have started businesses, and I've never really heard anybody question, ‘Oh, they're too young to know what they're doing’. For me, it seemed that age was more of an issue because I’m a woman. It was a double whammy of, ‘Okay, she's female, plus she's young so she’s not going to be aggressive.’”
- Darlene Panzitta, President & Founder, DSP Clinical Research
"We are women running a female-focused, female-at-its-core, company. In the beginning some people thought that it was kind of fluffy and weren't sure if it was just a fun side project, as opposed the real, viable, sustainable, profitable business it is."
– Stephanie Kaplan Lewis, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Her Campus Media
“The women tended to congregate together, as women often do at social events. But as a business woman, you have to push yourself to talk to the men, and not just hang out with the other girls.”
- Mashell Carissimi, Founder & CEO, JMC Electrical Contractor
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