As per a recent survey among high and ultra-high entrepreneurs, it has been noticed that ambitious and successful women entrepreneurs are not only being ranked as equal with their male counterparts but they are at times outperforming them in many sectors. That is according to the BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneur Report, 2016, for which an eminent consultancy firm surveyed around 2800 high and ultra-high entrepreneurs from among 18 different countries. The researchers concluded that more than 90% of women entrepreneurs anticipated that the gross profits of their companies would either increase or remain stable throughout the next year. To be a bit more specific, 62% of them predicted their company profits to rise as compared to 58% of all entrepreneurs.

Co-CEO of BNP Paribas Wealth Management, Sofia Merlo remarks about the survey of women entrepreneur and says that they’re more ambitious and have proved to be more successful than the male entrepreneurs. In order to illustrate her comment on the success of women, she points out the revenue data of the survey report. Companies governed and headed by women entrepreneurs had 15% higher revenues than those that were run by men.

Women millennipreneurs – Their gaining momentum

The same report found from generational differences that millennial women performed especially well. The survey chose participants who were based entirely on their business revenues and personal wealth. Around a third of the respondents were all women among which 38% were millennial and 24% were baby boomers. This clearly implies that amongst these 2 generations, the number of successful and ambitious female entrepreneurs have considerably increased. They were more ambitious about their profits and millennial women were especially so, approximately three-quarters predicted an increase over the next year and expected a margin of profit of 40% for 2016, as against an average of 31%

Millennial women even reported higher revenues than their average gender group for 2017: revenues for women were 10% and for the women millennipreneurs, it was 24%. As per Merlo, this data is an echo of the section of the same report on millennipreneurs which saw that 20-34 year olds are managing bigger staffs, initiating more companies, setting higher targets of profits than the baby boomer predecessors. The report clearly points to the ‘millennipreneur phenomenon’ where the younger generation is going much faster than their baby boomer counterparts.

The force will be with women entrepreneurs – A detailed analysis of the reasons

The reasons behind why the force will be with women entrepreneurs are an amalgamation of increasing financing options, marketplace trends and growing recognition of support. The biggest challenge faced by women while starting off with their own company is access to capital, particularly equity financing. According to Access to Capital by High Growth Women-Owned Business, businesswomen start their companies with 50% less capital than the make. So, it makes sense why money is the main focus of this post.

• This is the golden age for women entrepreneurs: Experts believe that the present industry poses a perfect opportunity and rather a storm for the women entrepreneurs. With the interest rates on loans at their record low levels, there has been created a vigorous environment for commercial borrowing. Huge levels of cash are kept with both individual and private investors and even on corporate balance sheets. All such entities are in search of lucrative business ideas as the challenges start to increase in the market. As per recent trends, women entrepreneurs are more adroit than their male counterparts in recognizing gaps in the market and thereby seizing the opportunity.
• Stories from the media inspire women entrepreneurs: Media has long been playing a vital role in inspiring entrepreneurship and offering a roadmap for business-minded women. Stories of women who have been extremely successful in their lives are constantly on the rise and this is serving as a boost for the potential women entrepreneurs. They are not only making it to the headlines but are also being listed on the Forbes 2015 World’s Most Powerful Women. They are building empires and are creating a massive difference in the society.
• A roaring rise in middle market companies helmed by women: Firms and businesses owned by women or led by them now account for 15% of middle-market firms, which are the companies with revenues ranging between $10 million and $1 billion. Companies which are run by women are gradually entering the middle market at rates which is 8 times in general businesses. The total number of middle-market firms increased by 5% between 2008 and 2014 while the number of firms led by women rose by 35%. A decade ago, WPO member businesses had revenues of $10 million but today one quarter of the membership is at $10 million or more.
• More women now initiate start up businesses: Although venture-backed and angel companies led by women are already making headlines, the future of America is predicted to run through Main Street, as per the head of Small Business Administration, Maria Contreras Sweet. The activities of small businesses are rising in 50 states and 40 metropolitan areas and women are one of the top reasons for accelerating the growth.
• Bridging the wealth gap: After going through the above mentioned points, we can’t say that all metrics of businesses owned by women are positive. The percentage of firms which were owned by women decreased from 2008 to 2012 and there was a sharp decline among the African-American and Hispanic business owners. There are speculations that there might be an even bigger need among women of color to start off with their own businesses. There has been an increased necessity for such women to supplement their current income and support their primary income source.

Hence we see that women have done more than proved their abilities. Previously research from Dow Jones showed not only good performance outperformance of companies led by women as against the male-led companies. Even sharks now recognize the outshining returns which women entrepreneurs deliver.