As Women’s History Month begins, we are reflecting on the economic impact of women entrepreneurs.
In the United States, women own 10.6 million businesses that produce approximately $2.5 trillion in sales every year. These women-owned companies employ 19.1 million workers, or one in every seven employees. Even though women own approximately 30 percent of small businesses, women-owned companies make up just 16 percent of bank loans and 17 percent of SBA loans. You can find more statistics about women entrepreneurs in this great fact sheet.
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, from 39 percent of our portfolio in 2013 to 51 percent of our portfolio today.
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.
