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[[category:McNair Projects]]

Although women-owned businesses are the fastest growing segment in the US economy, there are some significant obstacles that women entrepreneurs have to face, especially those pursuing a high-growth pathway.

===Effects===

Partly due to the financing and funding problem, women-owned firms are typically smaller than men owned firms. Average sales, assets, profits and employment for women owned firms are much lower than men-owned firms, and have grown in a slow rate. only 3% of majority women-owned businesses have revenue over $1 million compare to 6% of majority men-owned business. The average revenue of women-owned firms is 27% of the average revenue of men-owned firms, as of 2008[https://www.nwbc.gov/sites/default/files/growthpap.pdf].

=Mentoring Gap=

Although a notable amount of existing programs provide useful services and good foundations through the early stages of business, there is a lack of offerings beyond these services. The need for women entrepreneurs pursuing high growth pathway(especially those transitioning from lower growth to high-growth strategies), however, tend to be more sophisticated and complex. These businesses need special mentoring at their critical transition phases. Women-owners in high-growth ventures often experience working capital deficiencies, lack experienced personnel, lack the internal processes and systems that enable scalability and may also face complex international matters. Moreover, these problem may be amplified for women-owned businesses because they tend to be smaller in size with less debt equity, have fewer employees, and have fewer networks to leverage[http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/initiatives/ep-ce/ep-ce-en.pdf]. Mentoring programs can give significant assistance to those fast growing companies that are facing greater market and organizational complexity and seeing new opportunities for growth.

Women entrepreneurs with high-growth firms require affordable, customized support services. They require committed mentors, who are experienced business leaders available to answer urgent questions and minimized unnecessary risks. These services are scarce in our current ecosystem.

=Work-life Balance=

===Mompreneurs===

Mompreneur is a neologism defined as a female business owner who is actively balancing the role of mom and the role of entrepreneur. A 2011 MSNBC article declared the rise of the mompreneur to be a hot trend in the small business sector[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40969268/ns/business-small_business/t/successful-mompreneurs/#.V1ryQvkrLRY]. Most of mompreneurs are self-employed since self-employment promises more flexibility than wage earning occupations in which hours of work are rigid. And internet allowing mompreneur to sell products out of the home.

=Overcoming the Challenges=