According to a report recently released by Ernst & Young, “women start businesses at 1.5 times the rate of men and are at least half-owners of 46% of privately held firms.” While these figures look positive to female entrepreneurs at first glance, only 2% of women-owned businesses in the United States break $1 million in revenue.
ABC News journalist, Clair Shipman believes that confidence is a crucial core aspect hindering female business. In her book The Confidence Code she stipulates that “women routinely underestimate their abilities while men routinely overestimate theirs.”
A community of female leaders is building momentum in an effort to reinforce sound business growth practices to help breakthrough this issue. EY’s Entrepreneurial Winning Women™ program has established three core concepts that seek to act as a launch pad for female-led businesses to succeed.
- A strong community. Communities offer women entrepreneurs much-welcomed affirmation, know-how, peer-to-peer guidance and, ultimately, role models.
- An authentic purpose. This simple statement of “why we do what we do” serves as the company’s North Star, guiding it in every aspect — from recruitment to customer management to product development and sales.
- A flexible, adaptive leadership style. When a company grows, its leader needs to evolve too. A small start-up requires different characteristics in its leader than a 100- or 1,000-person company. Entrepreneurs need the self-awareness to know when they need to change their focus, and how.
Kat Cole is no stranger to any of these principles. Ms. Cole dropped out of college to open international Hooters franchises at the age of 20, promoted as a vice president of Hooters at 26 and was appointed president of Cinnabon before she had even finished her MBA.
In a recent profile in Time, Ms. Cole reflected on her first conference for the Women’s Foodservice Forum when she was 25-years-old. “’It was the first time I had ever seen that many women in a room, it was the first time I had ever seen anywhere near that many women in suits, and it was the first time I’d ever met any female presidents or CEOs,’ Cole says. ‘In one moment, I saw what was possible.’”