Trends in Female Entrepreneurship

Businesses owned and operated by women are becoming more and more common in today’s marketplaces — between 2014 and 2019, the percentage of female-owned businesses shot up a whopping 21%. With this wave of new businesses, interesting trends are developing.

• Women Often Cite Opportunity Motives for Their Businesses

According to market research conducted in the past decade, women are roughly 20% more likely to cite opportunity as the primary reason for venturing into owning their own business. This is even more pronounced in innovation-driven groups, in which women are three and a half times more likely to cite opportunity motives rather than necessity motives.

• Women Are More Drawn Toward Community-Driven Business Initiatives

More than half of women-led businesses have been shown to be clustered around government, health, education, and social services. Though researchers haven’t established any causal links to prove why this is the case, most believe that it’s because women tend to lean into their emotions when coming up with business ideas.

This has led to a wide range of incredible initiatives started by female entrepreneurs — from Goodr, the Atlanta-based company that reduces food waste by establishing IRS-friendly donation reporting systems to Zum, the California based startup that provides safe transportation for school districts.

• Too Many Women Never Start Their Business

While this realization is saddening, it’s not necessarily surprising. While entrepreneurial aspirations are generally divided equally between the sexes, fewer women ever see their ideas come to fruition, and they’re more likely to give up on their businesses in the early stages.

This is due to a mix of factors — the increased challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in finding initial capital, prejudices in certain markets against female-owned businesses, and the stereotype that women should function as the primary caregivers for their families all play a role in the number of women who are forced to give up on their dreams.

This doesn’t have to be the norm, though — the markets are shifting more and more every year. Sometimes, all it takes is the courage to start.

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To read more of Colette Kemp’s insights visit her website or follow her on Twitter. This article was originally published on colettekemp.net