Oct 25, 2016 | Economic Security, Entrepreneurs, State Initiatives, Vermont, Work
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”http://changethestoryvt.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/CTS-2016-Status-Report_Womens-Business-Ownership-and-the-VT-Economy.pdf” title=”2016 Status Report: Women’s Business Ownership and the Vermont Economy” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Read “Women’s BusinessOwnership and the Vermont Economy [/x_button]
Mercy Connections, Women’s Small Business Program
Director: Carmen Tall
Offering a variety of classes and discussion groups like:
- Getting Serious: Intro to Self-Employment
- Start Up: Comprehensive Business Planning
- Personal Financial Empowerment Programs
- Personal Financial Resource Groups: Money-Management Discussions
Learn more.
Women Business Owners Network (WBON) is the membership choice for women entrepreneurs seeking connections, resources and tools to scale into greater economic, social and political arenas in Vermont and beyond.
Learn more. Join as a member.
Director: Gwen Pokalo
CWE provides opportunities for women entrepreneurs and women in business to increase professional success, personal growth, and financial independence. They offer:
- Education
- Training
- Technical assistance
- Women’s business enterprise certification
Learn more.
Director: Linda Rossi
The VT SBDC works as a team to positively impact sustainable, economic development in Vermont by strengthening both established businesses and start-up entrepreneurs. They offer certified professionals who specialize in high quality, innovative advising and training to be responsive and serve the market.
Find an Advisor near you.
Executive Director: Cary Brown
Vermont Commission on Women is an independent non-partisan state government commission dedicated to advancing rights and opportunities for women in Vermont since 1964. They have a list of great resources for women’s business and entrepreneurship on their website.
Learn more here.
Oct 17, 2016 | Corporate, Economic Security, Entrepreneurs, Occupational Segregation, State Initiatives, Talent Management, Vermont, Wage Gap, Work, Workplace Diversity
This is the third in a series of briefs published by Change The Story on topics related to women’s economic status. This report focuses specifically on business ownership by women and its potential to bolster and invigorate Vermont’s economy. Like the majority of national and regional reports on businesses, this report relies heavily on data from the 2012 U.S. Census Survey of Business Owners. Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are specific to Vermont. To date, we have had to rely on national reports to define the health of Vermont’s women-owned businesses. But their conclusions paint conflicting pictures: one analysis of 2014 data ranked Vermont first among states for entrepreneurs, while another ranked Vermont 50th. The difference between these rankings begs the question: What is the real story for Vermont women and business ownership?
Download the full report.
Download the companion slide deck.
Among the findings:
- Women-owned businesses are vital to Vermont’s economy.
- Women own 23,417 businesses in Vermont, which employ 36,326 people, and generate annual revenues of approximately $2.2 billion.
- Although growing at a faster rate than businesses owned by men, women-owned firms in Vermont are fewer in number, smaller in size, and lower in annual revenues.
- Between 2007-2011, the number of female-owned businesses grew 15%; during the same period male-owned businesses grew by only 6%.
- Women-owned businesses generate 9% of gross revenues and employ 12% of workers in privately-held Vermont firms.
- Women business owners are significantly underrepresented in 9 of the 10 highest grossing sectors. This limits financial opportunities for individual women and their potential contributions to Vermont’s economy.
- Women-owned businesses have the potential to play a much bigger role in Vermont’s economic development.
- If the percent of women-owned businesses that are employers matched that of male-owned businesses, and those firms had the same average receipts, it would add $3.8 billion to Vermont’s economy.
- If Vermont women chose business ownership at the same rate as men, it would result in more than 10,500 new businesses.
- If just 1 in 4 of the existing 20,786 women-owned businesses without employees hired just one worker, it would result in an additional 5,200 new jobs.
- Maximizing the potential of women-owned businesses - and indeed all of VT businesses - requires new and better data.
- While existing business-related data sources can provide reliable top-line statistics, they are less useful in revealing nuanced information about the motivations, challenges or opportunities experienced by Vermont business owners. Focusing on the finer points of what makes a business successful is critical to Vermont’s economic future.
Jun 30, 2016 | Confidence Gap, Entrepreneurs, Work
“Wanted – successful women entrepreneurs running fast-growing companies”. You would think that an advert like this would have hordes of women making contact wouldn’t you? Well, that’s not the case.
A few years ago I was involved in an initiative whose target market was women entrepreneurs running fast-growth companies. My role was to find these businesses to see how they could be supported in raising capital, and gaining access to mentors to help them during their growth journey. However, the problem was that we could not find many women who identified with this description. The traditional advertising routes were not working, so I set out to check if the lack of interest meant that they actually didn’t exist.
What I discovered surprised me. There were many women who had ambitious growth plans and whose businesses were generating annual revenues well in excess of £250,000 – but they did not categorise themselves as a “fast growth company”. In fact, it took a little time during the conversations for them to recognise how successful they actually were.”
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2016/jun/29/womens-talk-why-language-matters-to-female-entrepreneurs?CMP=ema-1694&CMP=” title=”Women’s talk: why language matters to female entrepreneurs” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Read the article[/x_button]
Jun 20, 2016 | Entrepreneurs, STEM, Women of Color/Visible Minorities
Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the country, generating over $44 billion a year in revenue. So why do fewer than one percent of their startup ideas get funded? When a startup earns $1 billion in venture capital, people like to call it a “unicorn.” But we’d like to introduce you to a few true rarities: black women making it work in tech.
Kelechi Anyadiegwu: Founder, Zuvaa
Brit Fitzpatrick: Founder, MentorMe
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”https://www.good.is/features/issue-37-techs-best-investment?utm_source=thedailygood&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailygood” title=”Tech’s Best Investment: Black women entrepreneurs generate over $44 billion in revenue annually in the U.S., yet fewer than 1 percent get funded. What gives? ” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Read the full article[/x_button]
Mar 14, 2016 | Education, Entrepreneurs, STEM, Talent Management, Workplace Diversity
Girls in Tech (GIT) is a global non-profit focused on the engagement, education and empowerment of girls and women who are passionate about technology. Our aim is to accelerate the growth of innovative women who are entering into the high-tech industry and building successful startups.
Created in February 2007 by Adriana Gascoigne, Girls in Tech was born out of the need to provide a platform for women to cultivate ideas, learn new skills and advance their careers in STEM fields.
Girls in Tech is headquartered in San Francisco, California and has multiple chapters around the world, from Paris, France and Dubai, United Arab Emirates to Hyderabad, India and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Girls in Tech offers a variety of resources and curriculum for members to further their educational and professional aspirations. These programs include Lady Pitch Night, Catalyst Conference, Coding and Design Bootcamps, Hackathons, XChange, Global Classroom, GIT WORK, and others.
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”https://girlsintech.org/” title=”Girls In Tech ” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Check it out![/x_button]
Dec 30, 2015 | Entrepreneurs, Leadership, Work
The Center for Women in Business is pleased to present our latest research highlighting the growing impact of women entrepreneurs and small business owners on the American economy. We look at how women like Fulton, Ambrose-Burbank, and Brown are reshaping the entrepreneurial landscape. In particular, we examine the “1099 economy” and the women who have started their own micro-enterprises either out of choice or necessity. The research also provides powerful examples of systems and programs that encourage and support women’s business initiatives in communities around the United States.
[x_button shape=”square” size=”regular” float=”none” href=”https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/legacy/cwb/ccfwib.pdf” title=”Women-Owned Businesses: Carving a New American Business Landscape” target=”blank” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover”]Read the full article.[/x_button]
