Women entrepreneurs are all around you, despite facing a myriad of challenges.
Challenges such as pay inequity or having a tougher time receiving traditional loans, 40 percent of new entrepreneurs each year are women. In fact, it’s often the fact that women want the chance for better income the serves as the impetus for starting a small business.
How can you provide small business support to support these scrappy entrepreneurs seeking to beat the odds? This article enumerates ways to offer real support to female entrepreneurs, be they family members, friends, or owners of small businesses you frequent.
Entrepreneur Help for the Woman-Owned Small Business
Becoming an entrepreneur may be the easy part; it’s sustaining your efforts long-term that can be very hard. Women entrepreneurs starting a small business face gender inequality issues that place an added burden to be overcome. It might be a lack of access to small business lending or other hurdles. Despite this, women are starting their own companies, and they are thriving.
There are some things we can all do to help women entrepreneurs and support their efforts to succeed. Most are actually pretty simple and as close as your wallet, while others take a bit more effort. All are important; women entrepreneurs deserve our support and encouragement. Here’s how to give them small business support:
- Shop women-owned businesses. It really is that simple. A little bit of research and we expect you will find alternative women-owned businesses for just about any product or service you use regularly. Frequent these locations to provide small business support that is both emotional and fiscal.
- Invest in women-owned companies. You can also choose to invest your money in women-owned businesses. You don’t have to be an angel investor or other business partner, either. If you have a 401(k) or an IRA, you’re an investor in something—why not earmark your money for a women-owned initiative?
- Support organizations that provide small business support to women. This could be your local Chamber of Commerce and any women-centered business initiatives it has. Join and get involved in national organizations such as the National Association of Women Business Owners or the National Center for Women and Information Technology.
- Become a mentor or volunteer. Mentoring a younger female entrepreneur or providing support to a new woman-owned business by helping show them the ropes is something that established business professionals can do. Mentorship can include business advice, networking with new women entrepreneurs, or even small business lending. National and local organizations often offer established mentoring programs that can connect you with new women entrepreneurs that could use a little help from a friend.
Supporting the women-owned small business can take a lot of forms, from frequenting the business and entrepreneurship tips in mentoring sessions to small business lending.
Benetrends has been helping entrepreneurs on both sides of the gender aisle create new business opportunities that grow into thriving pillars of their communities. To find out more, download our Innovative Funding Strategies For Entrepreneurs.