Female Entrepreneurship Flourishing
The number of women launching their own businesses has skyrocketed, increasing 74% nationally to over 9.4 million businesses since 1997. The region as a whole ranks 15th with 63% post-recession growth between 2007 and 2015 to 203,600 firms. The District is ranked 23rd with 64% growth in women owned business to nearly 23,000 over the past 18 years. Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, North Dakota and New York had the highest growth in women-owned firms. Julie Weeks (above), author of the State of Women-Owned Businesses Report done for American Express OPEN, says the pace at which women are launching businesses in the region has slowed down since the recession compared to the pace they were launching businesses before the recession. Federal spending cuts and contract bundling may be to blame.
