Who are Entrepeneurial Women?

Who are Entrepeneurial Women?
I recently gave a talk to a businesswomen's network on,
what I considered to be the three key characteristics of
entrepreneurial women, based on my research and work with
coaching clients. Upon arrival, when I first asked how many
women in the audience were entrepreneurs, very few hands
went up. Puzzled, I asked "who ran their own business?" A
multitude of proud hands were then raised. Why the
disparity?

Who Are Entrepreneurial Women?

As a group, we decided that for some "Entrepreneur" is a
loaded word, often invoking images of Richard Branson of
the Virgin empire and Stelios Haji-Ioannou of Easyjet (and
Easy-everything it seems!).To some, the word had come to
denote someone who serially builds businesses with a single
intention of dispassionately selling them in as short a
time frame as possible. However, I had come to the
presentation with the definition of "Entrepreneur" as
anyone who decides to start their own business for pleasure
and profit - whether they want part-time work that fits
around their personal life or have global aspirations. This
definition is broader, but also much more approachable and
therefore more likely to resonate with a greater number of
women.

The entrepreneurial woman is on the increase in the U.K;
one-third of all new businesses are started by women, which
puts the U.K on par with other Northern European countries
but behind their sisters in the U.S, Australia, New Zealand
and even South America and parts of Asia. However, numbers
in the U.K are still relatively low - only 7% of women in
employment are self-employed compared to 15% of their male
counterparts.

Interestingly, the age with which women set up their own
businesses closely corresponds to key childbearing and
rearing years -that is the late 30's in the UK and slightly
earlier in other nations. It seems that rather than slow
down, women perhaps look at setting up their own businesses
as a way of juggling career and family better than they
could while in employment.

There is growing support for women entrepreneurs with such
networks as Aurora and Enterprising Women leading the way.
In my discussions with entrepreneurial clients it seems to
me that these women share a special set of three qualities
- qualities I will discuss further in my newsletter. In the
meantime, think about the following questions, I would love
to hear your comments!

Thinking about Entrepreneurship?

What does "Entrepreneur" mean to you? Have you ever thought
about working for yourself? What would be the benefits of
setting up your own business? How about the costs?

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