As of 2019, women make up more than 40% of new entrepreneurs. Do you want to hear another incredible fact on the topic? Between 2017 and 2018, women created 1,821 new businesses per day. Experts studying the trend believe that the growing amount of female entrepreneurs is partly due to the ever-present gender pay gap, the ability to create their hours (cue the work/life balance debacle), and to have greater control over their financial and professional future.
As a female entrepreneur, being a part of that 40% is astounding and exciting. To make sure we keep the ball rolling until we can get even better, equal representation in the business sector, we must ensure that the choices we make as consumers and professionals reflect our support of female businesses and entrepreneurs. Here’s how you can keep the ball rolling:
Shop Women-Owned Business
No matter what you want to purchase, be it goods or a service, do some research and find out if a female-owned alternative to what you’re looking for exists. The chances are it does. Where we spend our money matters for many reasons.
Our money shows fiscal support, allowing a company to continue to make and improve the product they offer, but it demonstrates moral support. If we continuously direct our funds to companies with poor ethics and beliefs, we are essentially supporting what we disagree with. By shopping women-owned companies, we set them up for further success and show investors where they should direct their money.
Become a Mentor
If you’re part of that 40% of female entrepreneurs, or a businesswoman in general, consider becoming a mentor. Mentoring is quite a hot topic in business right now, and for a good reason. Young female professionals, especially young female entrepreneurs, can always use a helping hand when it comes to growing their skills, business, and network.
Plenty of local and national organizations offer mentoring programs. With a little bit of research, you can pair up with another woman who would appreciate and value your experience and expertise. Mentoring not only offers direct support to female entrepreneurs, but it creates a chain wherein you set up another woman to have a great career that she, in turn, can pass on, too.
Support Female-Focused Organizations
As previously stated, there are numerous organizations whose main goal is to further female entrepreneurship and representation within business. If you have the funds to provide, donate to one of these organizations that you most identify with. They are always looking for financial support to help fund their services, workshops, and programs, such as mentoring.
If donating money is out of your means, consider volunteering your time and effort. Many of these organizations are run by volunteers, and if you have the time and skills to advance them, you are making an incredible difference in supporting and empowering female entrepreneurs.
Women still have quite a distance to go when it comes to fair representation within business, but the numbers above speak for themselves and give immense optimism. Sitting idly and hoping that this number will rise will not work. Instead, it’s important to take actions that will work to increase support for female entrepreneurs and the immense change they are creating.
