dispatches from the new world of work

Women's Businesses Spend $$$

The spending power of businesses owned by women continues to grow. According to estimates by the Center for Women's Business Research, "Annual expenditures by American women-owned businesses in just four areas—information technology, telecommunications, human resource services and shipping—amount to $103 billion." That is just in four key areas—imagine how the rest of that pie might look.

Companies today are continuing to recognize the buying power and influence of women. A recent article published in the Chicago Tribune on August 9th (free registration required) recounts how one businesswoman moved her banking to Wells Fargo because they had seminars and sessions focusing on helping women's businesses succeed. In other words, they added value! Other companies, such as American Express, annually invite women business owners to apply to "Make Mine a $Million Business," a program that selects 20 women business owners and helps them to develop and increase their annual revenue to a million dollars. (Filing deadline for fall 2006 is Sept. 29th.)

Women pay attention to these services, and they embrace and support those businesses that develop great working relationships with them. What's your piece of the pie?

Val Willis posted this on 08/23/06.

Comments

Just a small addition to the "women rule" debate from a late-comer believer...August 19th's Economist ran an article on the appointment of Indra Nooyi as PepsiCo's CEO...which included:

"Many of America's top female bosses are in the consumer-goods industry. In this business, most consumers are female, so having women in charge can help companies understand them. Consumer-goods firms started appointing women as brand managers in the 1980s, and at firms such as Sears, Federated Department Stores and Kimberly-Clark as well as PepsiCo, more than a quarter of the top officers are women.

Research by Catalyst found that firms with a higher share of female officers had stronger financial performance than their peers in every industry, not just in consumer goodsâ€”and no one has challenged its numbers yet."

Enough said...

Posted by Mick Coleman at August 25, 2006 4:05 AM