From WPO Chicago Happy New Year!

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

Happy Holidays From WPO Chicago!

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

How to Support Women Entrepreneurs

There is much discussion and debate about how to support female entrepreneurs — and rightly so.

Currently, women-led businesses are less likely to survive, despite evidence that their startups are often highly successful. New analysis by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that if women and men around the world participated equally as entrepreneurs, global GDP could ultimately rise by approximately 3% to 6%, boosting the global economy by $2.5 trillion to $5 trillion.

So how do we support women entrepreneurs?  Three areas:  improve access to credit (financial capital) or provide training to help women build new skills (human capital) and give them access to networks.

Read more about the trillion-dollar opportunity in supporting female entrepreneurs.

Standing Out From a Sea of Dudes

Nicole Kendrot turned a problem into a business opportunity. In her case, the problem was student loans–not just the amount of debt, but managing the payments. Her solution: to design a mobile app to track multiple loans and gamify the payback process so users can earn cash incentives. And like many startup founders before her, Kendrot came up against two more hurdles: time and money.

Here are a few ways women entrepreneurs, like Ms. Kendrot, say they’ve tackled the particular challenges they face in the startup world.

Take a Break and Then Get Back At It This Holiday Season

This past Black Friday was expected to once again be the largest shopping day of the season, followed by the last Saturday before Christmas.  And this year, there is a mad scramble between Thanksgiving and Christmas — but with six fewer days.  So that means customers will have less time to shop and retailers will have less time to woo them.

For busy business owners like you, it also means you better grab your break and then get back at it.  Besides, you deserve a break!

Read more about how this year we have less time to spend this holiday season.