Famous Women Entrepreneurs
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Are famous women entrepreneurs smarter than men? Well, let's see.
According to the Center for Women's Business Research , here is the over-all picture concerning women in businesses in the United States: 2008--2009.
- 10.1 million firms are owned (50% or more) by women, employing more than 13 million people, and generating $1.9 trillion in sales as of 2008.
- Three quarters of all women-owned businesses are majority owned by women (51% or more), for a total of 7.2 million firms, employing 7.3 million people, and generating $1.1 trillion in sales.
- Women-owned firms (50% or more) account for 40% of all privately held firms.
Businesses Owned by Women of Color
- 1.9 million firms are majority-owned (51% or more) by women of color in the U.S.
- These firms employ 1.2 million people and generate $165 billion in revenues annually.
- Between 2002 and 2008, these firms grew faster than all privately held firms.
Million Dollar Businesses
- One in five firms with revenue of $1 million or more is women-owned.
- 3% of all women-owned firms have revenue of $1 million or more compared to men owned firms.
Women know a lot about business.
It is believed that more businesses started by women remain in business after 5 years compared to men who start businesses.
Many women have discovered they can be Moms and work from home. too. In fact, most small businesses owned by women are work at home Moms. There must be some qualities that women have, that tend to bring advantages to them, from a management perspective.
The following characteristics tend to separate famous women entrepreneurs from their men counterparts.
Characteristics of Famous Women Entrepreneurs
- Balance: Seem to have that knack to manage well through being attentive, kind and demanding of employees.
- Focused: Tend to have the intensity necessary to capture a broad view while working on details or immediate problems. Famous women entrepreneurs fit this profile well.
- Out-going: Like to be involved with employees telling stories, laughing and having fun building team effectiveness.
- Have excellent listening skills: Have a keen ability to listen to others with a good understanding of their problems and needs, therefore, making the time to do so.
- Motivated by inter-self: Famous women entrepreneurs have demonstrated time and again the need to be fulfilled and happy, to bring out the best in others and, as a result, to improve their life and the lives of others.
- Personal adaptability: Demonstrating ability to adapt to and meet their various roles as a housewife, mother, wife and businesswomen.
- Analytical ability: No one can deny women become famous women entrepreneurs because of their sharp ability to size up where their company needs to go and how to get there. They process a great overview ability knowing how to fit the parts together.
- Learning: Knowing when to ask for help, rather than plowing through an effort while not having all the necessary knowledge has been a key element of famous women entrepreneurs.
- A good negotiator: By taking a wide view of what is to be accomplished, women have skills to gently, but firmly lead the situation to a good outcome for all.
- Embrace Responsibility: Famous women entrepreneurs actually seek out authority and responsibility to reach identified outcomes or goals. They do not shirk that the buck stops here.
- Confidence: The most important characteristic famous women entrepreneurs show their peers and employees is confidence, even when they do not feel confident on the inside.
Even as recently at 20 to 25 years ago women were relegated to only a few real opportunities. They were usually teachers, nurses, childcare, hair care and secretaries/administrative assistants.
Women Entrepreneurial Success Resources
City Girl Business Club
Positive Women Rock
Organization of Work at Home Women
As the following famous women entrepreneur’s profiles exhibit, women are today, and probably more so in the future, thriving in fields few women of years ago participated in.
They are trendsetters and trailblazers. Their businesses are generating millions of dollars in sales and employing hundreds of people. A new era has more than arrived!
Profiles of Famous Women Entrepreneurs
Carol Bartz: Her mother died when she was eight years old. Then lived with her grandmother. Five years after college, she went to work for 3M in 1976. She left after she applied for a transfer to HQ, but was told, Women don’t do these jobs.
She became CEO of AutoDesk in 1992 and turned the company around into a leader of computer-aided design software for architects and builders.
In January, she was named CEO of Yahoo.
She is a breast cancer survivor.
Ruth Handler: An American businesswoman is remembered for developing the Barbie Doll. Her pre-teen daughter Barbara liked to play with dolls, but giving them adult roles to follow. Mattel management thought it would not sell…what do men know about playing with dolls?
While on a European trip in Germany, she bought a doll, which was marketed as a gag-gift for adults. Back home, she reworked the doll’s design; named it after her daughter, convinced Matell management to give it a try and, well, the rest is history.
Of the doll, Handlers believed that it was important to a girl’s esteem that she plays with a doll with breasts.
She became a member of the Jr. Achievement U.S. Hall Of Fame in 1997.
Kathy Ireland: Born in 1963 and during high school became a successful model. She was featured in Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue for 13 consecutive years, ending in 1996.
In 1993, she put her name on a line of socks for Kmart. She then developed her own clothing line for Kmart and founded Kathy Ireland Worldwide.
After her Kmart contract ended in 2003, she grew the company by placing her clothing line in over 50,000 stores in 15 countries.
She generated $1.4 billion in retail sales. That’s when she was considered one of the famous women entrepreneurs.
Since 1994, she has published several books and videos about fitness.
Suze Orman: Born in 1951, she is best known for her Suze Orman Show on TV. Although, she is a sought after motivational speaker and the author of many books, six of which appeared on the New York Times Best Sellers list.
She did not grow up with money (her parents operated a deli). She holds a B.S. degree in Social Work.
She wanted to open her own restaurant, but circumstance prevented her from doing it. Instead, she entered the training program of Merrill Lynch to become a broker. She opened her own financial firm in 1987.
Patsy O’Connell Sherman: Ever hear of Scotchgard? She is the co-inventor. As a rare female chemist in the 1950s, an accidental spill of a chemical compound she was working on led to her invention. The spill couldn’t be removed from a pair of tennis shoes.
As her new compound was being tested in a textile mill, she had to await the results outside the building because women were not allowed inside the mill. The test was positive and Patsy joined the list of famous women entrepreneurs.
She has been a member of the American Chemical Society for over 50 years.
This is interesting. In 1974 the aptitude test given high school girls showed her best suited to be a housewife.
She lobbied to take the boys aptitude test. She did.
It showed she was best suited to pursue a career in science and listed dentistry or chemistry as her best potential career path.
Ruth Graves Wakefield: In her early career she was a dietitian and lecturer. At the age of 27, she and her husband purchased an old toll house in New England.
Historically, it was a stop on the stage line where passengers were taxed a toll, lodged over night and fed well.
The Wakefield’s named the lodge Toll House.
Ruth became famous for her deserts; one in particular. She invented the first chocolate chip cookie and called it the Toll House Cookie.
To this day, the recipe of Ruth Graves Wakefield appears on the back of each package of Toll House chocolate. Ruth died in 1977.
All these persons were famous women entrepreneurs. Some made more money than others.
A few will never make the history books of the next generation. But they all worked hard, had a vision and achieved greatness in their own right. They are indeed, famous women entrepreneurs!
Other Women Entrepreneurial Organizations
National Association of Women Business Owners
National Association of Entrepreneurs
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