The number of women entrepreneurs is surging at a speedy rate. And we should all be paying attention to these startling statistics.
The State of Women-Owned Businesses report commissioned by American Express says “women are starting about 1,821 new U.S. businesses per day” with 64% of the startups founded by women of color.
In addition, women in 2018 made up 40 percent overall of businesses in America. This compared to the amount of women-owned businesses in 1972 shows a 3,000 percent increase
That percentage may have likely been more, since before 1988, women needed a male co-signer to apply for business bank loans.
Women Entrepreneurs in South Dakota
There is a lot of girl power happening in the Midwest and especially in South Dakota! According to the American Express report mentioned earlier in this article, South Dakota ranked number one for women owned businesses increasing their economic clout between 2007 and 2018. Economic clout is defined as the growth in the number of firms and growth in employement and revenue. Texas and Utah tied for second and third place and Delaware came in at number four.
Would you like to see this upward trend keep increasing even more? The best way to make a difference in growing the number of female owned businesses is to support local women entrepreneurs in your community.
Angie Uttecht, Owner/Broker at Ace Realty in Huron, works with her staff to ensure they are providing the best service to clients. Ace Realty’s customers are typically making their largest transactions in their lifetimes—homeownership.
Angie believes the best way for communities to support women entrepreneurs is by cheering women on and inviting them to take part in community leadership roles. Outside of her day job, she attends hospital board meetings with the HRMC Foundation as well as meetings with the Greater Huron Board and Huron Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.
The advice Angie would give women entrepreneurs is to determine their WHY?
“WHY do you want to start your own business and what do you hope to accomplish? Once you have that established you can put your team in place and share your passion and purpose with them. THEN, look out because you’re about to accomplish great things.”
Codi Kinsman, another female business owner, spends her time between working as Owner of Service Master of Pierre – Ft. Pierre as well as working as an Accounting Manager for the State of South Dakota.
Due to her busy schedule, she teams up with her supporting husband to manage owning a business. Like all working mothers, she continues to find the right balance between spending time with her family and having time for self care.
Codi reminds us that being practical and prepared when owning a business leads to success.
“My advice to any woman wanting to start her own business is to do research. We worked with SBDC (Small Business Development Center) and determined a five year trend of the business. We put together a to do list of all the things we will need as owners.”
Start or Support a Women-Owned Businesses
Women currently only hold 5.2% of CEO positions based on the 2019 S&P 500 list according to Catalyst. To help grow the amount of women leaders and entrepreneurs, consumers can buy from and investors can financially support more women-owned businesses. Buying goods or services from a locally owned business helps build a stronger economy and significantly more money stays in a community when purchases are made at a locally owned store.
One way American Bank & Trust provides support is by offering women entrepreneurs the freedom to run their businesses without the worry of account fees. With our Totally Free Business Checking, there is no minimum balance and no monthly maintenance fee! Plus the first 500 transactions each month are free*.
Get in touch with one of our business bankers to find out more. Or apply online for a business checking account today!
*If the Totally Free Business account exceeds 500 free monthly transactions, the account may be converted to another checking product. Other fees such as non-suffcient funds, overdraft, etc may apply. See fee schedule for details.
