6 Global Trends Reveal How Women Are Redefining Entrepreneurship
Females are unlocking massive opportunities for business expansion.
Devishobha Chandramouli
GUEST WRITER /Entrepreneur.com
Founder and Editor, Kidskintha- for the modern millennial parent
photo: Westend61/Getty Images
Tiny specks form a massive ocean. The adage couldn’t be better represented than the scenario in the small and medium business sector today. In 2016, nearly 98 percent of all importers in the U.S. were small and medium-sized companies with fewer than 500 employees, and the percentage of exporters was only marginally lower at 97 percent, according to the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council. An estimated $556.2 billion in goods were traded with 15 foreign countries by early 2016, with about 96 percent of the SME consumers living outside the U.S.
Most women-owned businesses are SMEs, yet women-owned firms seem to be lagging in tapping their vast foreign consumer base. Despite studies showing that women-owned businesses that engage in the export of their goods and services earn exponentially higher than women-owned firms that do not, only 12 percent of businesses that export are owned by women.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor(GEM) Report for Women 2016/17 reports that 274 million women were already running their own businesses across 74 economies, of which 111 million were running well-established businesses by 2016.