Happy Women’s Entrepreneurship Day

November 19^th is Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED), a global observance celebrating women entrepreneurs and generating solutions to support women’s advancement. This Sunday will mark the fourth anniversary of WED; the first installment was introduced in New York City at the United Nations in 2014 and was recognized by 144 countries.

Women Entrepreneur Statistics

• There are 11.6 million women-owned businesses in the U.S. employing 9 million people and generating over $1.7 trillion in revenue
• There are 5.4 million minority women-owned businesses in the U.S. employing over 2 million employees and generating $361 billion in annual revenue; they comprise 46 percent of all women-owned firms
• Women-owned businesses have increased by 114 percent in the last 20 years
• Women-owned businesses are growing at 2.5 times the national average—women are currently starting an average of 849 new businesses per day
• Businesses owned by women of color have grown 467 percent since 1997
• Since 1997, the revenues of women-owned businesses have risen 103 percent, but their employment has grown just 27 percent
• In the past year, employment at women-owned firms has increased by .1 percent

WED also recognizes the importance of empowering women in all sectors and raising awareness of women’s issues on an international stage. The Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO) has stated that the goal for 2017 is strategically scaling and deepening their impact globally. This year, the initiative has been expanded to Bangalore, New Delhi, Mumbai, Yemen and Morocco.