Female Entrepreneurs in the U.S. – the Stats Edition.

Posted on July 23, 2009 - Filed Under Trends Impacting Entrepreneurs

When I started my first business in 1998, I had no idea that I was becoming part of a movement that is gradually changing the face of business around the globe. The news is full of the message today: that it is small business that has the power to fire up the American economy. And worldwide, women everywhere are engaging in commerce and using the money they earn to create better lives for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Let’s take a look at the latest growth statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, which updates its Survey of Business Owners every five years:

  • Women owned nearly 30% of non-farm businesses in the U.S. for a total of nearly 6.5 million majority-women-owned businesses. In addition, women were equal (50/50) owners with men in another 2.7 million businesses.
  • The number of women-owned businesses grew 20% between 1997 and 2002 – twice the national average.
  • Women-owned businesses generated $940 billion in revenue – 15% growth over the same time period.
  • Running projections on this data, the Center for Women’s Business Research reports that in 2008, there were 10.1 million firms which were majority owned by women. These businesses employed 13 million people and generated $1.9 trillion in sales.
  • Women-owned businesses tend to be smaller than male-owned businesses.

    • o  Though women-owned businesses accounted for 28% of all firms, they only accounted for 6% of employment created by businesses and 4% of revenues.
    o  The average woman-owned business generated $145,000 in receipts versus $536,000 for male-owned firms. (That figure was from 2002 – in Jane Out of the Box research conducted last year, the average for women was $202,000 in revenue.)
    o Only 3% of women-owned businesses had revenues of $1 million or more. (This compares to 6% of male-owned businesses.)
    o Women-owned businesses are less likely to have employees – only 14% of them do.

As you can see, millions have taken their careers and their financial well-being into their own hands by starting their own businesses. For increasing numbers of women, owning a business is a meaningful way to showcase their talents, be fully accountable for their own financial well-being, and to live the lives they dream of. Whether they have visions of creating assets and wealth to pass down to future generations or whether their primary goal is to enjoy doing some work while having the flexibility to stay home with their young children, women everywhere are discovering that being an entrepreneur can be a great way to truly “have it all” in terms of the life you dream about.

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