BY logan mosby
DBJ Contributing Writer

According to a study from the Center for Women’s Business Research, women- owned businesses established with in the past 10 years are making economic contributions and are primed for future growth.
The study, which was underwritten by First Union Corporation, shows that 38% of these businesses have already achieved $500,000 or more in annual revenues, and 42% of women business owners suggest they want continued growth as their businesses expand.
Nina McLemore, chair of the Center for Women’s Business Research and President of Regent Capitol, says, “It appears that among businesses started within the past decade, there is no significant gender difference in the share of firms with $500,000 or more in revenues.” McLemore goes on to say, “ While this analysis cannot directly compare businesses at a similar period in their growth cycle, the fact that the new generation of women business owners has reached this sales level at an early stage in their business development—along with their outlook on growth and their appetite for capital—may indicate that the new generation of women-owned firms is poised to make an even greater economic contribution in the coming years.”
The study also states that most of the new generation women business owners are more likely to be concerned with the issue of capital than their established counterparts.
John Guy, Senior Vice-President and Small Business Segment Executive Director for First Union Corporation says, “At First Union, we know that concerns about access to capital remains a key issue, and that women continue to use smaller amounts of capital to start their businesses than men. Among those who have started or acquired their firms within the last decade, 43 percent of the women used less than $10,000, compared with 29% of men.” Guys adds, “To combat this, First Union has implemented financial and educational programs that specifically reach out to women business owners, providing education and strategies for easier access to capital. First Union also had made a corporate commitment to loan a minimum of $5 billion to women-owned businesses through 2005.”
The economic and social barriers that have plagued women business owners are systematically being torn down, even here in the Mississippi Delta.
Jo Parker, co-owner of the Wishing Well, a ladies clothing store in Cleveland, comments. “Today it is beginning to become an even playing field. Fifteen years ago, when we (she and partner, Susan Wiggins) started the business, we were not taken as seriously.”
Cindy Tyler, owner of the Mississippi Gift Company in Greenwood, agrees, “I do feel that women business owners are more accepted today.”
Trudy Seldon, co-owner of On a Whim in Tunica, says she hopes that women can look at her success and know that they too can do it too. “I hope I’m setting an example for my daughters,” Seldon comments. “Being a woman in business has opened up new doors. It has allowed me to step into the world,” says Seldon.
Seldon also says that even though she has always felt her efforts at business were well appreciated, some of her male counterparts have a newfound respect for her and her business.
Hayes Mitchell, of Clarksdale, established Raferty’s, a clothing store, ten years ago. Mitchell says that in the beginning it never occurred to her that starting a business was hard. “I was just out of college and I guess I was just aggressive,” laughs Mitchell. “I feel that women business owners are not taken as seriously as men business owners. Women have to work harder at proving themselves.” Mitchell adds, “After all, women haven’t been in the workforce as long as men have.
“I was 22 years old when I started my business and the thing I would like to see in the future of women owned business is more younger people trying to establish new businesses,” Mitchell says. “We need younger people to know that they can do it.”
“The great news here is that the new generation of women entrepreneurs are more likely to have started a business that is related to their previous career. 51% of those who started their firms within the past 10 years indicated their business is closely related to their previous career, compared to 33% of those who started their firms 20 or more years ago,” says Myra Hart, Vice Chair for the Center for Women’s Business research and Harvard Business School Professor. “This is positive because we know that the more closely related the business is to the owner’s previous work experience, the greater likelihood of success.” DBJ