Women starting and building businesses are delivering outsized returns to Australia with enormous untapped potential, and yet just seven per cent report they are “thriving”.
It’s a sobering statistic that came up in our 2025 report on women starting, leading and scaling businesses, in partnership with CommBank Women in Focus.
We surveyed over 700 women starting, leading, and scaling small to medium-sized businesses in June to learn how they are faring and what can support their work.
What they share is powerful and exciting but also a wake-up call to the broader business community.
We are aware of the challenges posed by economic pressures, geographical uncertainty, and digital transformation. And yet we see and hear how women are still building and still scaling. Women are creating jobs, investing in innovation, and pivoting to new – and often better and more profitable – things through the turbulence.
We see a huge economic opportunity in women building, leading, and scaling small businesses in Australia.
Take these stats, for example:
- 85 per cent say they plan to hire in the next year
- 80 per cent say they will invest in scaling
- 76 per cent say they are involved in additional community work or groups like volunteering at schools, managing sports teams and club associations.
And yet? Just a tiny proportion of respondents report their businesses are thriving.
Meanwhile, the risk of burnout for women in business is high.
We already know about this from separate and more general research we conducted earlier this year, which featured a snapshot of 1,200 women regarding their ambitions. We heard then that a shocking 73 per cent believe they may have experienced burnout in the past 12 months.
In this report, 63 per cent of respondents listed burnout as a top challenge, followed by 55 per cent who listed the “cost of doing business”, 51 per cent who listed “sourcing clients or customers” and 37 per cent who listed “access to funding”.
In this survey of business owners and leaders, burnout was listed as the number one challenge.
Concerns about burnout arose ahead of other concerns, such as accessing funding and talent.
And as a small business owner myself, I completely get it!
The squeeze on time and resources is constant. The business side often blends with the personal side, where there are domestic and caring responsibilities to manage. The hustle is constant, as is the tension of macro forces such as the impacts of artificial intelligence, the cost of living, global conflict and even Trump’s war on DEI and how that impacts customers we do business with.
There is no such thing as work-life balance for those of us who are not only navigating work and are, but also ongoing threats (and opportunities) for our businesses and the team members we hire. There is no “off” switch. And no leave days or even scheduled holidays that can take away from not only the work that still needs to get done, but the thinking that is always occurring.
This is the reality of running a business, and it’s one that many of us in it often opt into willingly, knowing the incredible risks and downsides.
However, we are also entering the business world knowing that we have massive potential upsides – which include everything from having a say in the work you do, being in the fortunate and privileged position of creating jobs, leading innovation, making an impact, and generating wealth.
The benefits of women starting, building, and scaling businesses are also present in Australia.
But the “support deficit” is real.
More than 70 per cent of women we surveyed said they don’t feel supported by their state/territory of the federal government. Most respondents reported not feeling supported by the broader business ecosystem, nor by their suppliers and banking partners.
This support deficit contributes to the exhaustion, despite the resilience, tenacity and ambition of women in business.
So what can be done?
Through our research, we aimed to also investigate what’s working now. We found that collaboration is huge in enabling success – including with industry partners, clients and other women in business.
Women also told us about the value of storytelling, especially in seeing other women navigate through similar challenges and learning how they do it. Women are also finding incredible value from their networks – often other women in business – for sourcing leads, clients and support. They’re doing this in ways that don’t wait for systems to catch up, but rather by seizing opportunities on their own terms.
Interestingly, most women surveyed (83 per cent) said they feel supported by their network, and 77 per cent feel supported by friends.
From this research, we believe that governments and large organisations can do more to foster and support networks that connect women with key decision-makers and investors. We believe dedicated grants and VC funds (without the onerous requirements of previous grants systems) are vital.
Procurement is a particularly ripe area for larger organisations to support women in business, while also accessing a wider and more competitive range of goods and services. We believe policymakers, investors, institutions and industry and business communities can support the infrastructure that will enable women to thrive.
Celebrate resilience without weaponising it
We must not view the resilience of women in business as sufficient for them to continue bringing incredible economic and social benefits to Australia. The support deficit they face must be addressed.
Indeed, as Sharon Zeev Pool shares in the report, a business owner who has run the Sydney-based PR firm for 18 years, what women in business are experiencing now is unlike anything she’s faced before. It’s additionally unprecedented for women who also happen to be part of the “sandwich generation,” squeezed between caring for children and ageing parents, a category she also includes herself in.
But she also notes that these constant adjustments are developing superpowers in women.
“We are deeply capable and resilient, but that very resilience is often weaponised against us. The more we hand, the more we’re expected to handle. We’re exhausted. And yet, this invisible load is part of what makes us exceptional and gritty business leaders.
Never forget the necessary social impacts of women in business
Kristy Dickinson, a proud Wiradjuri woman who runs jewellery and merch brand Haus of Dizzy, is a business owner who spends serious time giving back, supporting her team members, but also mentoring in schools and juvenile justice centres about how to start brands and businesses.
As featured in the report, she says having an impact on social issues is a critical part of her journey as a founder, especially through the products she creates. Indeed, when she feels stress, she rereads a letter a girl wrote to her following a workshop she did at a juvenile justice girls centre. The girl shared how inspired she was and that she was going to stay out of trouble. “I came from nothing. I had a single mum in housing commission. I never thought I’d have my own business. I just told her my story, and she just really appreciated it.”
Thank you to CommBank Women in Focus for making this 2025 report possible for the third consecutive year, enabling us to identify trends in responses and advocate for more unified efforts to support women starting and leading businesses in Australia.
As Rebecca Warren, executive general manager of Small Business Banking at Commbank, says in this report, “it’s more than a snapshot – it’s a signal. It tells us where support is effective and where there is room for improvement. It challenges us to think differently about how institutions can better show up for women in business.”
Check out the full report here.