The document discusses strategies for incubators to better attract and serve women business owners. It notes that women now make up 36% of business owners in the US and their numbers are growing faster than the national average. The presentation provides data on the benefits of diversity and challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. It offers best practices for incubators, including marketing directly to women, staff training on gender issues, reviewing programs through a gender lens, and examples of innovative programs successfully reaching women. The goal is for incubators to apply simple strategic changes to improve the diversity of their applicant pools and services provided.
InBIA Presentation: The Tipping Point: What Incubators Need to Know About Women Business Owners
1. What Incubators Need to Know
About Women Business Owners
Presented by: Kristin Slice, MA, Empowered Lab Communications
2. According the 2013 Census, women make up
what percentage of the total number of
business owners:
A: 20%
B: 75%
C: 36%
D: What is a women, I
don’t see gender Mr.
Slice
3. Today You Will Walk Away With
• The latest data and research on female
entrepreneurship
• A brief introduction to gender, national gender trends
and how they affect the growth of businesses today
• Having engaged in a discussion on innovative ideas for
incubators
• Several examples of current programs succeeding
• Simple best practices that you can apply
4. Women are the fastest growing
demographic of business owners in the
country in increasing diverse fields.
– NWBC, 2016
5. Between 2002 and 2012,
the number of women-
owned businesses in the
U.S. increased at a rate of
2 1/2 times the national
average and employment
in women-owned
businesses grew at a rate
of 4 1/2 times the rate of
all businesses.
8. Good News
• Extensive research now exists on the obstacles that
women face.
• Women face similar challenges but feel the effects more
acutely, they require innovative solutions to addressing
those challenges.
• Many national programs and best practices have been
developed and are currently being executed.
9. The Value of Diversity
• Women build more sustainable businesses
• They engage and support their community
• Women entrepreneurs have higher levels of
innovation than their male counterparts
(Harvard Business Review, 2013).
• They bring diverse view points and values
10. Successful startups have 2x as
many women in senior roles
than unsuccessful companies.
- Fortune, 2012
11. Gender is the most powerful
determinant of how we experience
the world.
Gender is often a blind spot for
businesses, partially because the
subject is not typically addressed
in most undergraduate or
graduate-level business courses, or
the workplace itself.
12. Women…
• Receive 60% of undergraduate degrees and 60% of graduate
degrees
• 36% of business owners
• Control household spending decisions and have $11.2
trillion in spending
• Driving innovations that meet previously unmet needs and
bring new values to business
13. What are your biggest
concerns about women and
diversity in your program /
incubator?
15. Best Practices
• Combination of programmatic considerations and marketing
strategy
• Getting more diversity in participation can be achieved through
simple strategic communication strategies.
• If the audience you are trying to engage looks different from the
audience you are currently working with, you have to do
something different
16. Best Practices: Marketing
Market to women … Duh.
• 86% of women rely on peers or colleagues for business advice
and resources.
• Consider your current marketing through a gendered lens.
• Be aware of the “Bro-grammer” incubator stigma.
• Review and diversify your referral sources
17. Best Practices: Programmatic
• It is not as simple as “women are good communicators”
• Staff training on diversity and gender awareness
• Consider diverse business tools and resources
• Review your current tools and programs and the values
they expose
• Consider the diversity of your staff and their
communication skill sets
• Understand the latest research on women business
ownership and how to effectively work with women
business owners
18. Examples of Innovations
WIN – Flagstaff, AZ
Small discussion groups on hard topics
Education, not networking
Open to all decision makers
19. Examples of Innovations
Empowered PhXX
Connect directly to women networking leaders.
Share latest research and best practices.
Improve marketing and referrals with direct feedback.
22. Examples of Innovations
10,000 Small Businesses Goldman Sachs
Looking at Theory and Application
Focusing on Peer to Peer
Mindset and Behavior Changes
23. “When you see women
differently, you see the
world differently.”
25. Connect with Empowered Lab
Communications
Download Best Practices for Incubators to Attract
and Serve Women
Empowered-lab.com/InBia
www.empowered-lab.com
@KristinSlice
Kristin@empowered-lab.com
Editor's Notes
Do you capitalize races? “Most significant growth is in Black and Latina populations. (Don’t forget the s in populations). Change WOBs to WBOs in fourth circle. Also in this circle, you capitalize a lot of words, I think “Only” should be the only word capitalized