In 2021, there are 114% more women entrepreneurs than there were 20 years ago. For example, the USA has 12.3 million women-owned businesses. Currently, 62% of women entrepreneurs cite their business as their primary source of income. These numbers represent a nearly 60% increase in women-owned businesses since 2007 — as well as a larger societal trend in confidence among professional women.
"When you look at some of the hard numbers ... the number of women who have actually started firms has increased exponentially," said Rebecca Harris, executive director of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Chatham University. "[But] 90% of all women-owned businesses are sole proprietors, meaning only 10% are hiring employees. That has to change, because you have to have employees to grow."
While there are more women than ever starting and leading businesses, female entrepreneurs still face some unique challenges.
Lack of support: Lack of mentors and advisors is a major challenge for women entrepreneurs. According to a survey by Inc. Magazine, 48% of female entrepreneurs said that the lack of mentors and advisors restrain their professional growth. In a world where high-level business is dominated by men, it becomes difficult for women to excel in their profession without someone showing them the right way.
No business networks: According to a recent survey, women were not a part of business networks which would help them build a network to grow their business, find customers, partners, suppliers, build connections, and more which come very naturally to male entrepreneur. Finding the right support network isn't always easy. Some good places to start are women-focused networking events– as well as online forums and groups created specifically for women in business.
Lack of confidence: A lot of women struggle with confidence and they need help with understanding their skills, their value on what they bring to businesses and organizations. Very often, women tend to underestimate their capabilities and so they need a lot of support to gain that confidence and understand the value that they possess.
Our goal with the Minneapolis Business Mentors’ Women's Collective is to share knowledge and wisdom to help you become more effective and productive in your professional and personal lives.
You will be able to make connections, learn, share knowledge with peers, discover tools and resources while participating in a safe and supportive environment.
What we provide:
Quarterly meetings on topics important to the group facilitated by volunteers of Minneapolis Business Mentors.
Content matter expertise.
Facilitated breakout sessions and journalling time.
Actionable tools and resources.
An online forum to connect and ask questions between the meetings connecting both with the Mentors and with your peers.
Join us for our next session on Friday, May 13th where the topic will be “Communicating with Power”. Register here.
I love that being involved with the MBM Women's Collective right away checks two of the three "boxes" cited in this article... 1) building a supportive business network and 2) having access to excellent mentors/advisors at MBM. Kudos to all the women who participated at our first meeting in February and those who plan to join us again in May for a topic which is likely to check the third box, 3) building confidence. May's topic: Communicating with Power.