Women’s Enterprise celebrates 15 years of covering women’s businesses,women business owners and leaders

As Women’s Enterprise celebrates its 15th anniversary, we realize it’s not so unusual anymore for a woman to own a multi-million dollar business or run a Fortune 500 company. While female captains of industries are still in the minority, there have been plenty of women who pushed boundaries and defied odds, forever changing the rules of business engagement in this country. Here, a brief review of how women fared in the past 15 years and the challenges they’re likely to face in the future.

LOOKING BACK
In 1992, women entrepreneurs were under siege: access to capital was impeded, as was the path to corporate contracting opportunities. The women’s business enterprise impact on the national economy, while growing, was not equal to their male counterparts. Their voices were being heard, but in much smaller numbers.

According to Census Bureau statistics for 1992, women owned 6.4 million firms, or one-third of all businesses in this country, but brought in only 10 percent of all revenues and employed just 15 percent of the nation’s workforce. The smaller numbers reflect the fact that 52 percent of all women-owned businesses were in service industries and a large majority had no employees.

TRENDS
The Census Bureau indicates that women now own 10.4 million businesses, or 41 percent of all privately held firms,employ 12.8 million workers and generate sales of $1.9 trillion.

Evidence that women are making gains in business comes as no surprise to Susan Phillips Bari, president emeritus of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.

“Women business owners have always made outstanding contributions to the U.S. economy.Women have always been involved, but they’ve come out of the shadows,” she said. “And WBEs will continue to be instrumental as America pursues economic recovery and job creation.”

Sharon Hadary, executive director of the Center for Women’s Business Research in Washington, D.C., sees a few trends and predicts they will continue into the next decade.

“WBEs are growing at twice the rate of all businesses and we don’t see that stopping,” she said. “They’re also gaining in revenues and expanding into new fields. As of 2002, a quarter of a million businesses owned by women had revenues of $1 million or more and women are opening engineering, wholesale and construction businesses. They used to be service-oriented firms with much smaller revenues. Now, they’re participating in these and other nontraditional fields all across the board, and they’re bringing in more revenue.”

IT IS ABOUT THE MONEY
What has been more elusive to WBEs, however, is capital. In 1992, women were more likely to turn to credit cards for short-term financing, and friends, family or other private sources for longterm financing.

“Thankfully, access to capital is opening up for women,” explained Hadary. “Banks didn’t used to take WBEs seriously as business owners. Now, they recognize WBEs as a viable investment.

“Another important trend in the past few years is that WBEs are now going after equity,” Hadary added. Equity investors — those who fund businesses in exchange for a share of the firm’s ownership — report that they are receiving more proposals from women-owned enterprises.

BANDING TOGETHER
Giving voice to America’s WBEs, of course, are the national women’s business organizations that took the message to corporate buyers and governmental procurement agencies that womenowned firms can handle any job. Several groups were already in place by 1992, each with a different mission and all with the promotion of WBEs at heart.

The National Association of Women Business Owners was created in 1975 to help women develop their businesses by sharing resources and shaping public policy. In 1988, the National Women’s Business Council was established as part of the Women’s Business Ownership Act as an advisory body of women business owners.

The CFWBR was launched in 1989 as the premier source of statistics on women business owners. It was in 1992, however, that WBENC emerged, offering a certification process that changed the way American businesses thought of diversity.As CFWBR chief Hadary put it,“Supplier diversity used to be about race, not gender.”

WBENC cofounder Bari explained that women have always been “shareholders in corporate America”and that WBENC cleared a path for corporate America to be responsive to WBEs.

ON THE HORIZON
According to almost any survey, private or public, the growth and number of WBEs show no signs of slowing down, but Hadary cautioned that stumbling blocks remain.

“Men still control access to business opportunities and capital,” she said. “What’s detrimental is that women are not taking advantage of diversity programs to the extent others are.Women must be more visible in institutional and marketing networks.”

Bari suggested, “It’s also critical for WBEs to understand globalization and other trends in the marketplace if they want to expand their businesses. Having an idea of what’s coming over the horizon helps with business planning.”

And that means leaving a legacy for the next generation. “WBEs must view themselves as role models,” Hadary urged. “They must expand their businesses and embrace entrepreneurship as a pathway to economic independence. The achievements of today’s WBEs will help bust barriers for new generations as they find their own entrepreneurial spirit.”

We at Women’s Enterprise look forward to writing about it.