The Impact of Supporting Women-Owned Businesses

Suzanne Grandt
2 min readAug 11, 2021

Women empowerment has proven vital in the progressive aspect of any social construct. The spilling effect of women’s economic empowerment is reduced unemployment rates, growth of economies, spirited communities, and gender parity in commerce. Currently, there are nearly 13 million women-owned businesses positively impacting the state’s economy.

The 2019 American Express State of Women-Owned Businesses Report noted that women-owned businesses grew twice as much in three years, with black women-owned firms making a 43% growth. With an increase in startups comes new job posts and, subsequently, the increment in job opportunities. The rise in businesses owned by women of color led to approximately 2.4 million new jobs generating $422.5billion in revenue.

The last five years have seen many women start side hustles as they explore their entrepreneurial spirit. The possibility of creating more without any limitation opens a world of significant advancement. Thanks to the influx of knowledge in many social media outlets, these women do not necessarily need a four-walled room to get an education. We attribute these growth statistics to minority women whose businesses have gone up by 33% in three years.

The word on the street adds a lot more perspective to the barriers that these entrepreneurs have to break to make a name in their respective fields. Creating or joining a robust network is constitutive for any entrepreneurial success story. So, its no doubt that even if people are self-taught, they will need a mentor or an advisor to navigate their businesses. A majority of the high-level businesses still subscribe to the philosophy; it’s about who one knows and not what they know. It is difficult to maneuver through the elite networks. To counter this, Addie Swartz, the CEO of reachHIRE, advises women entrepreneurs to place themselves in conferences and women-focused networking events such as Bizwomen events as a start.

While purchasing is the most direct way to support a business, many other background actions can boost an enterprise. If one is also a businessperson, partnering with other women-owned businesses is a great way to start. Someone or an organization in an excellent financial position can provide grants to help sustain a business for a while, or maybe recommend someone’s services is still a great deal. Charitable events focused on empowering women entrepreneurs will provide an invaluable asset: financial literacy and networking opportunities.

It is no doubt that women-owned businesses are disrupting the long-standing traditional ways of doing business. It is, therefore, crucial to supporting them as our communities are highly dependent on them.

Originally published at https://suzannegrandt.com.

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Suzanne Grandt

Suzanne is the Assistant General Counsel for @StateBarCA. Graduate of Boston University.