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Gwen Martin, Managing Director & Director of Research at the Center For Women’s Business Research in McLean, VA, is a member of the Board of Distinguished Judges and Advisors for the Stevie Awards for Women in Business. Following is an extract from a recent study by the Center.
 Women are changing the entrepreneurial landscape, according to the Center for Women’s Business Research. The number of businesses owned by women has increased at twice the overall rate for the last two decades, to 10.4 million today, or 40 percent of the total. A study released by the Center in December 2008 also shows that women own 20% of firms with revenues exceeding $1 million. The two-volume report was underwritten by American Express OPEN? and The Jana Matthews Group.
This study illustrates the economic impact of women business owners and the common personality traits that may contribute to their success. Volume I, Million Dollar Firms by the Numbers, provides the first-ever in-depth look at the characteristics—including age, race and level of education—of both men and women business owners across revenue categories from $1 million to more than $1 billion.
The companion report, Lessons from the Trenches: Learning from $1 Million Plus Women Entrepreneurs, is a qualitative study that provides insight into the business practices and personality traits of women business owners with revenues ranging from $1 million to more than $20 million and provides a perspective on the results of the quantitative analysis.
The research shows that these high-revenue women-owned businesses account for 67% of total business revenue and 59% of total employment of all women-owned firms in the United States. At the time of the study, there were a total of 10.1 million firms owned by women, employing 13 million people and generating $1.9 trillion in revenues.
“Million Dollar Firms by the Numbers clearly illustrates that contrary to common perception, women own and lead multi-million dollar businesses,” said Margaret A. Smith, chair, Center for Women’s Business Research. “Lessons from the Trenches helps explain how they achieved these levels of business success—providing insights into the pathways to growth for all women aspiring to expand their businesses.”
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Eved Services was founded in 2004 by Talia Mashiach, an entrepreneur and mother extraordinaire. Still in her early thirties and the mother of four children, Mashiach came up with the concept for an in-hotel services company and pursued it with dogged determination. She famously made a call to a prospective client from her hospital bed shortly after giving birth to her fourth child.
