Women founders are increasingly key to driving economic growth
Female entrepreneurs are everywhere; they operate in all industries and on all continents. Some are even household names - you only need to tune into BBC One’s Dragon’s Den to see Deborah Meaden and Sara Davies showcasing what it is to be a successful, self-made woman in business.
Business creation is a vital tool to running a successful economy, and women play a major role in this. A recent report by network the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), which quizzed female entrepreneurs from 43 countries, found an estimated 274 million women are involved in business start-ups, some 139 million own or manage an established business, and 144 million women globally are informal investors.
It also found nearly a third (30.2%) of female entrepreneurs surveyed expect to hire six or more employees in the next five years – an enormous boost for the global economy.
Meanwhile, separate research from consultancy Deloitte estimated the number of women-owned businesses now account for between one-quarter and one-third of all enterprises worldwide.
