Women-Owned Businesses Just as Successful as Male-Owned Companies
Data collected from 20,000 small business owners shows that women-owned businesses are equally as successful as male-owned businesses across all independent measures of business success, including business starts, revenue growth, job creation, and number of years in business.
Key findings from a new SCORE survey include:
- Women are more likely than men to start businesses, with 47% of women in the pre-start or idea phase of business ownership following through on starting a business in the past year, compared to only 44% of men.
- Women-owned businesses reported nearly the same amounts of anticipated revenue growth in 2018. Fifty-seven percent of women entrepreneurs predicted an increase in revenue growth, while 15.5% predicted revenues would stay the same, and 9% predicted a decrease in revenues. In comparison, 59% of male entrepreneurs predicted an increase in revenue growth, while 15.5% predicted revenues would stay the same, and 9.5% predicted a decrease in revenues.
- Women were significantly more likely to launch service businesses. Female-led businesses were more likely to be in professional services, retail, healthcare (10% of women-owned businesses vs. 5% of men-owned businesses), and education (9% of women-owned businesses vs. 5%). Male-owned businesses were more likely to be in construction and manufacturing (12% of men-owned businesses vs. 4% of women-owned businesses).
- Both men- and women-owned businesses had comparable longevity—with the exception of very established businesses. Seventeen percent of male respondents owned a business 20 years or older, compared to only 13% of female respondents.
- Women-owned businesses reported slightly lower levels of employee hiring, with 27% of women-owned businesses reporting an increase in hiring, compared to 30% of men-owned businesses.
“Women-owned businesses are an impactful and fast-growing force in the U.S. economy, but much of the existing research to date has shown how women-owned businesses are still at a disadvantage in performance, contribution, and growth compared to men-owned businesses,” says SCORE’s Bridget Weston-Pollack.
“Our research suggests something very different—that women-owned businesses are equally successful as men-owned businesses.”
Register now for CBIA’s When Women Lead conference, Friday, June 1, at Hartford’s Infinity Music Hall & Bistro.
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