Around 50 years ago, the idea of a female entrepreneur managing her own company would have seemed ambitious at best. With discrimination and gender inequality being factors working against women, women entrepreneurs started their rise to fame.
Many women have started their own businesses in order to break free from social constraints. Women who are business owners can achieve financial independence without relying on the status quo. In the last 20 years, women entrepreneurs statistics have shown that the amount of female business owners has increased by 114%.
Interesting Facts About Women Entrepreneurship (Editor’s Choice)
- More than 46% of private businesses in Ghana are women-owned.
- Women own 36% of small businesses worldwide.
- California has the highest proportion of women-owned firms in the US at 1.3 million.
- Texas has more than 860,000 women-owned firms.
- Women launch more than 1,200 new businesses every single day in the US.
- Women-owned businesses generate around 1.9 trillion dollars in revenue.
- The growing rate of women-owned businesses is 5%.
- Uganda and Vietnam are home to over 30% of women-owned companies.
The number of women entrepreneurs is rapidly growing. So without further ado let’s dive deeper into the exciting waters of female entrepreneurship statistics.
Women In Business Statistics
1. 47% of women started a business in the last year, compared to 44% of men.
The reason most women step into the world of entrepreneurship is the desire to pursue their passion, with 48% saying it was their main motivator. Financial independence is the second reason which was cited by 43% of the women, and flexibility was in third place winning 41% of the votes.
2. 62% of women business owners are between 40 and 59 years old.
Around 80% of these women have college degrees, women entrepreneurs statistics show. Building and gathering experience takes a lot of time, which explains why only 30% of these women are younger than 40. This means that it takes years of dedication, commitment, and hard work to succeed in building connections, relationships, and capital to run a business effectively.
3. Women own 12.3 million businesses in the US.
To do the math, 12.3 million is roughly equal to 42% of all US companies. To put things in perspective, there were around 402,000 female-owned businesses in 1972. And this percentage is only expected to grow in the coming years, according to woman-owned business statistics.
4. More than 9 million people are employed by women-owned companies.
This number represents roughly 8% of the total private workforce. From 2007 to 2018, total employment in these companies increased from 6% to 8%, with the revenue share simultaneously increasing from 4% to 4.3%. If we include companies with equal male and female ownership, then the percentage of total employees rises to 14%.
5. Women of color are responsible for 89% of newly created businesses in 2019.
This number has increased by nearly 163% in the last 45 years. 260 African-American women open new businesses every day. This is a pretty incredible stat, considering that women of color make up 39% of the US female population. Businesses managed and owned by women of color generate around $390 billion in revenues, according to women of color entrepreneurs statistics.
6. Hispanic women-owned businesses grew by 172%, in the last 10 years.
Around 1.9 million firms in the US are owned by Hispanic women, the most current statistics on the rise of minority women entrepreneurs for 2018 show. This means that they are making big contributions to the economy, have employed over 550,400 workers, and generated somewhere around $97 billion in revenue. Hispanic women business owners have the potential to produce 80,000 new work positions and the capability to generate around $155 billion in revenue if the proportions are matched to those of other female entrepreneurs, female entrepreneurship statistics 2020 show.
7. 10% of females launched a business in the health care sector.
In contrast, around 5% of males started a business in the healthcare industry in the last 2 years, according to male vs female entrepreneurs statistics. Additionally, 20% of people who work in healthcare companies are employed by women-owned businesses.
8. 62% of female owners stated that their business is their main source of income.
Women-owned businesses are so much more than casual hobbies. Also, this percentage is strongly opposing the old assumption that women entrepreneurs are more likely to run lifestyle businesses than those which provide additional income.
9. 88% of all women-owned businesses generate less than $100,000 yearly.
Out of all women-led companies, there are only 4.2% that generate more than $1 million in annual revenue, women in business stats show. Growth in both employment and size of the business will begin to take place for women-owned companies once their revenues increase.
10. In the first half of 2019, 10 companies with women owners became unicorns.
According to female entrepreneurship statistics for 2019, 10 companies have become unicorns within the first half of 2019. A unicorn company is a startup that made more than $1 billion. In all of 2018, there were only 12 companies with a female founder that made their way to the top and at this very moment, there are 357 such companies globally.
11. 12.6% of businesses in the United Arab Emirates are owned by women.
Women who run business companies in the countries of the Middle East are more likely to upgrade their businesses to the international level. 75% of women business owners in the United Arab Emirates are running companies that are active globally. On top of that, around 29% of women-owned businesses in the Middle East and North Africa are considered to be international, surpassing the rate for male-owned companies. In Saudi Arabia, the rate is almost 50%.
Male vs Female Entrepreneurs Statistics in 2022
12. Women receive an average loan size of $39,000, while men receive an average loan size of $44,000.
There is a $5,000-difference for loans offered to women-owned businesses and those available for men-owned businesses. By increasing the loan amount requests for women, the loan amounts funded will also rise. On average, women ask for loans of $77,000 and men ask for an average of $110,000. Hopefully, this information will encourage women to ask for more funding.
13. The success rate of crowdfunding for women stands at 69.5%, and for men at 61.4%.
Male vs female entrepreneurs statistics in 2019 showed that women are able to raise more money with crowdfunding than men, because of the words female founders tend to use. Women normally like to use words that speak about positivity, such as “excited” and “happy”. They also use inclusive language, with the usage of the pronoun “we” and words such as “together”. Crowdfunding is an excellent way for women entrepreneurs to consider when pursuing funding, as demonstrated by women entrepreneurs and their personalities statistics.
14. Only 13% of construction, high-tech manufacturing, and metal industries are led by women.
The interesting fact here is that the small number of women-led companies achieved higher revenues in their first year. The small percentage of women in these fields indicates that these industries are less popular in the world of women entrepreneurs.
15. Women are more likely to feel stressed about their business.
Around 26% of women have reported increased stress after starting their business, with nearly a third having nightmares about the venture failing. Statistics on women entrepreneurs show that women are less optimistic and less confident when it comes to sales growth, earnings per share, and the number of employees compared to their male counterparts.
16. 350 newly-founded companies showed that female-owned businesses are safer for investors.
Recent research showed that businesses founded by women earned twice as much money than those founded by men. The reason behind this could be the fact women rely on their business as a primary source of income. Female entrepreneurs usually face greater difficulties when it comes to obtaining funds for their businesses, as are submitted to more scrutiny than their male counterparts, so this could potentially play a role in this as well. Meanwhile, women are less likely to file for bankruptcy than men according to statistics on bankruptcy.
Female Employment Statistics
17. 56% of startups have at least one female on board.
49.6% of the entire world’s population are women. Women business owner statistics show that there is at least one woman sitting on the board of directors in around 40% of startups, while more than half have a woman in an executive position. Just over a fourth of startups, or 28%, have at least one woman founder.
18. 2019 has surpassed all expectations, with 56% of companies having women in top executive positions.
In a survey of startups based in the US, UK, Canada, and China active in the tech and healthcare industries, it was found that some progress was made in recent years, but a lack of gender equality persists. China is the leader of the pack, though, with 70% of companies having a woman in an executive position and half having one on the board of directors.
19. 10% of healthcare startups are owned and/or founded by women.
Statistics show that three out of four healthcare startups are led by all-male teams. Startups that have at least one woman on the founding team are more likely to have a female in CEO or COO positions. Usually, a woman is expected to be head of HR or a similar department.
20. 59% of startups have programs designed to increase the number of women in leadership positions.
Around 65% of startups have some kind of program with the purpose of increasing the number of women in executive positions, statistics on women-owned businesses show. There is a small difference depending on the construction of the founding team, if the team involves a woman this figure stands at 65%, in comparison to 57% if the founding teams consist of only men.
Loans and Funding Success Rate
21. Only 25% of women seek financing for their businesses.
In contrast, 34% of men are likely to look for financing from investors. This might indicate that women-run businesses have a tight budget and are on the smaller side, explaining why they generated only 4.3% of the total annual revenue in the private sector.
22. 22% of women search for funding to launch a new product.
One of the trends in female entrepreneurship shows that women are more likely to seek external funding when launching a new product. On the flip side, 26% of men said they sought funding at the time of a new product launch. These types of funding can include loans for working capital, to buy machinery, to hire more employees, and even refinance existing loans and reduce monthly costs.
23. Woman entrepreneur statistics show that 59% of women would like funding for business growth.
There are a lot of different reasons to ask for business funding. Understandably, the typical reason for all business owners is to use the fresh funds to aid growth. Here, the numbers are pretty even, with 59% of females and 58% of males saying they have sought out funding to grow their business.
24. 46% of women use credit cards for their business.
Believe it or not, the type of loan a business owner is more likely to use can depend on the gender, women entrepreneurs USA statistics show. Nearly half of the female business owners said that they use credit cards, compared to 39% of males. Women’s earnings still have a lot of catching up to do to be compared to men’s, but when it comes to credit, the difference is small between the two groups.
25. Female entrepreneurship statistics indicate that women who do seek funding are successful in 31% of cases.
In comparison, 34% of men who applied for a loan said that their funding request has been approved. Despite the fact that women usually have better loan repayment records, women entrepreneurs face tougher challenges in their efforts to acquire business funding when compared to their male counterparts.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that women have made an enormous effort to be present in the world of entrepreneurship. Their impact is remarkable, and there is a likelihood that it will only grow. Women have shown that they can have a higher company success rate, but they tend to take fewer risks.
Companies that are owned and led by women proved to be a safer option for investors, yet they still struggle to obtain the capital they need, according to women entrepreneurs' statistics. This is likely to change in the upcoming years, as female presence in the world of business becomes the norm.
