As Women’s History Month begins, we are reflecting on the economic impact of women entrepreneurs.
California boasts the most women-owned companies in the country, with over 1.2 million women-owned firms operating in 2015. In the Bay Area, there are over 150,000 women-owned businesses operating. In the United States, there are over 14.6 million women-owned and equally-owned firms, reporting over $2.9 trillion in sales, and employing nearly 16 million people in 2015. You can find more information about the state of women-owned companies in these great data tables from Womenable.
Women lack access to small business financing compared to their male counterparts. Astonishingly, only 2.7 percent of venture-funded businesses had a woman as CEO, and 85 percent of all venture-funded businesses have no women on their executive teams. The subconscious bias against women seeking venture capital is well documented in this study from Babson College.
Access to traditional small business financing is also a challenge. Women-owned companies, and especially companies owned by women of color, start and grow with less access to bank financing than companies owned by men.
Despite these challenges, women-owned companies are projected to create one-third of all new jobs by 2018, showing the importance of these firms to our future economic growth.
OBDC is proud to support women-owned businesses, and over the last three years, this support has steadily increased. In fiscal year 2015, 54% of OBDC-supported small businesses were women-owned.
For more information about women-owned businesses, we recommend the National Women’s Business Council. They produce great content about women entrepreneurs.
Tell us about your favorite woman-owned business on Twitter @obdc_finance.
To learn more about the women-owned businesses pictured here, click each link below:
- Avital Tours, San Francisco
- Gray, Greer, Shelby & Vaughn, Oakland
- Indian Paradox, San Francisco
- Spice Monkey, Oakland
