Italia Martínez Vallejo
Being a business owner is never easy. Being a woman is not easy either. Now, imagine being both. Or maybe you don’t have to imagine it because you’re an entrepreneur woman already. The point is that even though the woman role in society and in business has been more recognized in the last years, there’s still a long way to go when it comes to equal opportunities for both genders, even for something like getting a business loan. Women in business still remain a minority, however, there are women like you that have been fighting to break the stereotypes and show their incredible talent to contribute to the world.
According to the National Association of Women Business Owners, in the U.S. there are more than 11.6 million firms owned by women and generating $1.7 trillion in sales while employing 9 million people. These numbers have been growing in the past few years, however, there’s still a gender gap in business. One of the main obstacles for women to start their business is the lack of funding or the difficulty to get it. According to a Babson College Report, less than 3% of companies funded by venture capital had women CEOs even though businesses with women entrepreneurs performed as good or better than those led by men. However, there are still opportunities a woman can seize to get started with their business.
That was the case of Ana Ramírez, a Peruvian-American 25-year-old fashion designer who wanted to start her own line of Peruvian pattern clothing to support the indigenous communities in her grandmother’s town back in Perú. Ana turned to Girlboss Foundation in search for funding to kick off her business. This organization granted her $15,000 to start her project. Girlboss supports female entrepreneurs to fund their music, design, arts or fashion projects, choosing a different winner twice a year based on their applications.
If you’re working on a project related to gender/racial/economic justice focused on women, Open Meadows Foundation can be an option. Like for Mariana Delgado, who created an app to teach programming basics to girls. Mariana was seeking to empower women since a young age to become interested in technology. Her wish was to create a community of tech-savvy girls and guide them through their career path. Open Meadows Foundation granted her $3,000 to get started. One of the reasons Mariana qualified to this grant was the fact that her budget did not exceed $75,000 and her project was submitted during the window of one of the two yearly deadlines.
Want more successful stories? Meet Yolanda Frias, who first received $1,000 from the monthly Amber Grant, and later in the year, she received $10,000 to redesign her small flower shop in Pasadena, CA. The Amber Grant is specially made for entrepreneur women just like Yolanda that need some support with their business. They give a monthly grant of $1,000 to a different winner and by the end of the year, they choose a final winner who takes another $10,000. The winners are selected by vote, so Yolanda poured her heart and soul into her application to make sure she transmitted her passion and business knowledge.
These are only a few options and stories about getting funds for your business as a woman entrepreneur, but there are many other options to help you. Find the funding option that best fits your needs and goals in the article Top 20 Small Business Loans for Women. Whether it’s a business loan or a grant, we’re sure you’ll find the opportunity you were looking for. So leave the excuses behind and start working on that project that has been wandering around your head. There’s still a lot to do for gender equality, but the truth is that women are receiving more and more support throughout the years and things can only get better.