Girl Power: Women Entrepreneurs Help Define Wake County Business Landscape
EN·TRE·PRE·NEUR / äntrəprə'noo(ə)r/
The term entrepreneur comes from the Old French entreprendre, meaning to undertake. By the early 20th century, it appears to have taken on the connotation of go-getter when applied to one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise—a quality that may also be found in the phrase entrepreneurial spirit which began being used at about the same time.
The number of female business owners with this moniker is on the rise. In fact, the office of Wake County Economic Development reports that Raleigh has been named in the top 15 U.S. cities for women entrepreneurs! Female executives are said to encompass approximately one-third of all entrepreneurs worldwide. In the words of Helen Reddy, “I am woman, hear me roar.” With American women now comprising a whopping 40 percent of new entrepreneurs (the number of women-owned businesses has increased nearly 3,000 percent since 1972), it’s clear that more females are tackling business ownership than ever before.
Today, four out of every 10 businesses in the U.S. are women-owned. Why are so many interested in pursuing this path? Forbes reported that women favored entrepreneurship to have more flexibility, charge what they are worth; have more control over their future, advance more quickly, and follow their passion. These are fundamentally different reasons than their male counterparts — as in many instances, women consider financial success an external affirmation of their ability rather than a primary goal.
—WAKE Living Magazine | Spring 2019
