Australian women are increasingly turning their backs on the corporate world to run small businesses. It’s part of a global phenomenon that has seen a record number of women launch their own companies in recent years and the trend is likely to continue.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that just over a third of Australia’s small businesses are now established and run by women (34%) – a significant jump from a little over 20% a decade ago.
It’s a similar story in the US where women own 36% of all businesses and research suggests women-owned small business will create up to 5.5 million new jobs by 2018 – more than half of the total number of 9.72 million new jobs expected to be created by small businesses by 2018.
Like most small business operators, women are often drawn to starting their own business because of a passion, but the other major pull is the quest for more control and flexibility.
As Kerryn Moscicki, owner of Melbourne-based fashion label Radical Yes, told me: “I love how independent I am and I love that no one can tell me what to do.
“Overall, I love the sense of accomplishment you get from having your own business – being able to come up with ideas and being as creative as you want each day. It’s very exciting,” says Kerryn (pictured above with her product developer).
In the four years of running her own business and employing three other people, Kerryn has learnt that speed is not always best. “Quick growth comes at a cost and it means that if your processes and systems aren’t in place, they cost you money and they cost you time and they cost you a lot of anguish,” she says. “There’s no hurry. It’s much better to work things out slowly and methodically.”
In addition to increasing in numbers, women small business owners are also experiencing high rates of success. Our own research at The Royals suggests there are three key factors driving this success.
1. The trust quotient
Women are trusted in the community and as leaders. Women are intuitive when it comes to trust, they tend to be open to change and know what it takes to build trust with people. This innate expertise also makes them more mindful of trust in relationships, and as a result they are far more careful to ensure it isn’t broken – such intuition provides a strong foundation for any small business.
2. Women seize the gap
Women entrepreneurs are adept at seeing gaps in the market and capitalising on those opportunities. I can immediately think of four excellent Australian examples of this:
Beam
An online marketplace targeted at stay-at-home mums, Beam offers part-time roles for women who are free during school hours, between 9:30am and 2:30pm. Founders Victoria Stuart and Stephanie Reuss previously worked at Google and business advisory firm Corporate Executive Board respectively.
Business Chicks
A membership-based community for women in business, Business Chicks offers a place for women in business to share passions, ideas and be creative. Its business events and networking opportunities are particularly popular with its growing membership.
The Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society
Established in 2012, The Fabulous Ladies’ Wine Society is a website and online club created to provide women with wine information and reviews without the traditional male language and approach that often dominates the industry.
Bahama Bell
A skincare range founded by 16-year-old entrepreneur Rebecca Rusinovic, who told The Age she spotted a gap in the market for a range for teenagers that wasn’t Clearasil.
3. Women support each other
As the number of women entrepreneurs has grown, so has the number of networks that provide support to women in business. There are now hundreds of support organisations, all offering networking and community building initiatives to motivate and empower success. These include Girled World, She Owns It, Hello Fearless and Women Grow.
Losing the labels
Also playing a role are prominent media stories about successful women business owners (for example, the launch of Beam covered in The Australian Financial Review) and increasingly popular lists and rankings, such as Smart Company’s annual Top 30 Female Entrepreneurs list. High-visibility coverage is testament to the public’s appetite for female success stories.
Like most things, however, the rise of women owning businesses brings with it a number of questions that are playing out in the media. Labels such as ‘mumpreneurs’, ‘fempreneurs’ and even ‘lipstick entrepreneurs’ perpetuate the idea that entrepreneurialism is a largely male preserve, which may be why a US survey by the Centre for Entrepreneurs and Barclays Bank in 2015 found that women dislike being called entrepreneurs.
And is it possible that those labels place undue pressure and unrealistic expectations on women entering business to also be mouthpieces for a gender and a movement? Does being part of the ‘girled world’ actually make it harder for women to compete equally?
What does the trend mean for business as a whole?
Despite these challenges, the key lesson is that ‘part-time’ is no longer a disadvantage. More flexible work options, more mobility, easier access to supply chains and digital connectivity mean that more people (more often women) can use the time they have to work in the ways they choose, in companies they created.
Radical Yes’s Kerryn Moscicki is in it for the long-haul, with a 25-year plan to pass on the business to her young sons once they are grown.
For big business, which has arguably been slow to adapt to this shift, it means missing out on the precious experience and a talent pool now drawn to alternative forms of work.
Once they’ve owned their own business, the majority of entrepreneurs do not look back to big business.