Women-Run Businesses Make More Money — Or Do They?


Women-Run Businesses

U.S. Businesses run by men are 3.5 times more likely to cross the $1 million threshold then businesses run by women, a 2014 study (PDF) by Ernst & Young concluded. And women owned business have only a 2 percent chance of ever hitting the $1 million mark, concluded the same study.

So it’s interesting to hear a contrarian view.

Women might not own as many businesses as men do. But it seems that their businesses tend to be more successful, concluded a global survey from French bank BNP Paribas and consultancy firm Scorpio Partnership found. The survey included more than 2,500 entrepreneurs from the U.S., Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The survey found that women-run businesses reported average annual sales of $9.1 million, while their male rivals manage about $8.4 million, states an official release on BNP Paribas website. In addition, the survey found that female entrepreneurs launch more businesses (4.9) than male entrepreneurs (4.3).

One thing that entrepreneurs of both genders have in common is a family history of entrepreneurship. For women, 62 percent of business owners came from a family with a history of business ownership. And 59 percent of male business owners came from such families.

While female entrepreneurs might face unique challenges, it doesn’t seem that they’re often actually held back from success. The main roadblock, according to some respondents, is simply getting women to start businesses in the first place. A lot of that has to do with confidence. One survey respondent said:

“There is no difference between a man and a woman in the entrepreneurial world. However, women often lack the confidence to start a business. They need to believe in themselves more.”

The results of this survey show that women don’t have as much to worry about as they might think. Perhaps, as more women become successful in business, they can inspire others to do the same.

Pitching an idea, getting funded, creating a business plan, and all of the other difficult aspects of running a business may not seem so daunting when you have peers and realistic role models who have done it all successfully before. For women, finding female business owners to look up to hasn’t always been easy. But the number of female entrepreneurs seems to be on the rise. And according to these survey results, that could mean more successful entrepreneurs.

Image: BNP Paribas, Scorpio Partnership


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Annie Pilon Annie Pilon is a Senior Staff Writer for Small Business Trends, covering entrepreneur profiles, interviews, feature stories, community news and in-depth, expert-based guides. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring all that her home state of Michigan has to offer.

5 Reactions
  1. Really interesting statistics you have there. It shows that men and women don’t really differ as much when it comes to their entrepreneurial blood. Both has the same likelihood to succeed at creating a business.

    • I know there have been a lot of different studies showing different types of results, but this one is definitely interesting.

  2. Both men and women have the same capacity to run a business.

    • I agree. I just think there have been some cultural factors that have impacted people deciding to start businesses.