Forbes has put out a list of the World’s Most Powerful Women, and it doesn’t include any American born entrepreneurs. Geri Stengel took notice of this, and ties the reason back to the jobs that are available for women to help them grow into these roles.
I think that this is part of the problem, but I also think that the environment to encourage women to start their own business that has great growth potential, and to make us feel that it is OK (and within our reach) to start businesses, isn’t as strong as it needs to be.
The Kauffman foundation recently published a study that the untapped potential women in entrepreneurship can help grow the US economy. The suggustions that they make to help increase women leadership of ventures is to:
- Get women on science advisory boards
- Get successful women to help one another by creating connections, funding startups, and encouraging research
- Have non-profits and philanthropists support networking/collaborative events.
As I sit here and think about this, part of what I think I need to do is:
- Provide women with the encouragement and support they need to start their own business, from simple advice to figuring out what holds women back, and creating that infrastructure
- Helping women have the confidence to move forward with their BIG ideas, and not just settle for the simple ones
- Helping women feel comfortable with leading, and no deferring to the louder voice in the room
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