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What Does A Female Entrepreneur Look Like? (Blog Post) (view source)
Revision as of 17:57, 8 June 2016
, 17:57, 8 June 2016no edit summary
::With impressive educational backgrounds, early-onset determinism, and powerful motivations for founding it is no surprise that female entrepreneurs on average perform 9% better on the Kauffman [http://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20reports%20and%20covers/2015/05/kauffman_index_startup_activity_national_trends_2015.pdf Opportunity Entrepreneurship Share] than men, indicating that they are better at identifying the market "gaps" where entrepreneurs thrive. Furthermore, women start their equally successful companies with 50% less capital than their male counterparts, according to the [https://www.nwbc.gov/sites/default/files/Access%20to%20Capital%20by%20High%20Growth%20Women-Owned%20Businesses%20(Robb)%20-%20Final%20Draft.pdf National Women’s Business Council].
::The question remains however, why is their there such a disparity between the trends of women in entrepreneurship as opposed to the trends in entrepreneurship as a whole? Female-owned businesses only represent 16% of employing firms, usually with employee counts in the single digits. Moreover, among high-growth firms, women represent a mere 10% of founders. Returning to the Kauffman Foundation [http://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20reports%20and%20covers/2014/11/sources_of_economic_hope_womens_entrepreneurship.pdf survey], 77% of female entrepreneurs said that the amount of time and effort required, 72% said the lack of available financial capital and 50% said the lack of available mentors or advisers were the largest challenges in starting their businesses. These challenges, especially the lack of available financial capital are unsurprising seeing how male founders are more than three times as likely as female founders to secure financing through angel donors or VCs, and that 79% of women surveyed reported using their own personal funds to start their business.
::The United State's economy appears to be at a tipping point. Forbes magazine in early 2016 pointed out that women own 36% of all businesses in America and that female entrepreneurs are an "under-tapped force that can rekindle economic expansion." Despite this strong evidence for growth potential, and the empirical data supporting the power of female entrepreneurs, some barriers still appear to exist. Through a reexamination of time resource-cost, accessible capital, and mentor networks for women in entrepreneurship a brighter economic future for all may be achieved.
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