National Women’s Small Business Month Highlights The Unique Challenges and Achievements of Women-Owned Businesses

October 15, 2021 | October is National Women’s Small Business Month, dedicated to celebrating the progress made each year by women entrepreneurs and business owners while also reflecting on the particular barriers to success they face.

Megan Wyatt opened Wit and Whimsy Toys in Granite Bay, CA in November of 2020.

A woman-owned business is defined as an enterprise that is at least 51% owned and operated by one or more women. As national priorities have shifted in recent decades to create resources encouraging women to pursue business ownership, the impact of women-owned businesses on the American economy has steadily grown.

As of 2019, there were 13 million women business owners in the United States, up more than 31 times from 1972, when federal law still required male cosigners for women to take out business loans. In 2018 alone, woman-owned firms added nearly $1.8 trillion in, “sales, shipments, receipts or revenue,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau Annual Business Survey for that year.

LEVERAGING RESOURCES TO ADDRESS OBSTACLES

Constance Agee is the founder and owner of Agee Fashion Institute and a California Capital client.

Despite these gains, women in business continue to face unique challenges. Multiple reports cite that women business owners have a more difficult time accessing capital, and often set less ambitious goals for their business during the start-up phase compared to their male counterparts. To address these obstacles, the U.S. Small Small Business Administration (SBA) established the Women’s Business Center Program in 1988, designed to provide women with the resources and guidance to thrive in the world of business. Now, more than 100 Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) have been created across the U.S., with the California Capital WBC being designated in 2012. As business development resources increase in scope and the barriers to success for historically underserved groups are challenged, a more diverse and resilient business ecosystem is emerging.

As the stories shared during National Women’s Small Business Month reflect, women-owned businesses continue to strive for excellence and push themselves to new heights, uplifting their communities in the process. Businesses like Agee Fashion Institute, who create pathways to entrepreneurship for women interested soft product manufacturing; entrepreneurs like Allison Carlson, who leveraged resources to continue operating despite the pandemic; and founders like Megan Wyatt, who has turned her dream of owning a toy store into a business that quickly became a community staple. When education, guidance, and capital are made accessible to tenacious and capable women determined to achieve business success, the country as a whole benefits.

LEVERAGING RESOURCES TO ADDRESS OBSTACLES

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