Smes owned by women are more successful than those owned by men
Smes owned by women are more successful than those owned by men
August 17, 2015By First For Women
That's right, you heard it hear first! According to The SME Survey 2014, an annual study of factors behind the success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa, a small business owned by a women has a better chance of being profitable than one run by a man.
The survey also surprisingly found that companies owned by couples or a mix of genders are substantially less likely to be profitable than those operated by either male or female owners.
The research signifies that of the male-owned SMEs, 20% are strongly profitable and 49% are just' profitable. Of the jointly owned SMEs, 16% are strongly profitable while 37% are just' profitable. When it comes to the female-owned SMEs, 15% are strongly profitable and 63% just' profitable.
This equates to 78% of women-owned businesses being profitable, ahead of the 70% for men. You go girls!
Although this signifies great success for women, the level of female ownership is exceptionally low - just 8% of South African SMEs are female-owned businesses. This massive gender imbalance in entrepreneurship tells us that women are not given enough encouragement or support to become entrepreneurs.
1st for Women believes that more must be done to close this gender gap but the problem has to be addressed at a systemic level, starting at school and extending through the workforce to give women not only the skills, but the confidence to start their own businesses - as it has been proven now undoubtedly that this is something women can be very successful at.
In 2007, 1st for Women Insurance launched a business insurance offering specially aimed at female SMEs. This insurance product covers 24 different types of SMEs in South Africa. Each package is tailor-made to suit the needs of businesswomen and business owners.
For more information on our tailor-made business insurance offering, click here.
