Michelle Rodger: Sisters are doing it for themselves

Published on Saturday 7 March 2009 13:28

IT APPEARS that women are expanding, not physically, but as a market. Female entrepreneurs are growing in number, in stature, in confidence, and ultimately in the financial contribution they make to the UK economy.

Already they turn over 60bn a year. The average income for the female business is 200,000 and rising by up to 25%, so female entrepreneurs could be contributing an additional 12bn in the next five years.

This research from Everywoman and NatWest also revealed that women business owners have overtaken their male counterparts in growth ambition. In their survey of more than 1,500 small business owners, both male and female, it was women who revealed the greatest entrepreneurial drive.

Women also demonstrated good business sense by ensuring they put the structure in place to measure success and achieve their goals: 55% of women work to a business plan, compared with only 34% of men. Women are more likely to allocate specific revenue and profit targets to their business (47% compared with 37% of men). Only 14% of women were happy sustaining their businesses at the current level.

Furthermore, 47% of women say they are stretching themselves beyond their comfort zone more than usual, compared with only 28% of men. This particular research, from Accenture, also found that 52% of women are developing new skills compared with just 38% of men, and 54% of women actively expanding their existing skills while only 37% of men are doing so.

On the surface it all sounds just dandy. But worryingly, the NatWest survey also showed that more than half of women business owners do not feel confident they understand the financial products available, compared with a quarter of men. Clearly, being unaware of the methods of raising finance could potentially be a significant barrier to growth.

Not surprisingly, this is where clever bankers have spotted a niche in the market. Businesswomen have been recognised as the next big banking thing, and UK banks are falling over themselves to offer a range of services tailored to the needs of women.

The battle lines have been drawn and the big guns have armed a flurry of enthusiastic senior lady bank managers with an array of enticingly coloured, softly worded brochures promoting tailored services for female entrepreneurs.

NatWest has attracted more than 18,000 new female-owned businesses as a direct result of dipping their toes into the new market. According to Angela Bate, NatWest's Women in Business Manager, the lack of awareness identified in their research highlighted the need for initiatives like their bespoke banking service just for women.

NatWest and the Royal Bank of Scotland jointly operate a regional-based Women in Business Ambassadors programme, offering support and advice to female entrepreneurs.

HBOS has launched its Women in Business division, a team focused on the female role within banking. Headed up by Claire Logie, it, too, provides a tailored banking service to businesswomen.

I was at the second annual Everywoman Conference in Glasgow last week (sponsored by a bank) where the speakers – all incredibly successful women who had started up and grown some fascinating companies – shared their business experiences.

All had issues and challenges to overcome, but I do question whether any of those were gender-specific. The differences between men and women are not about the specifics of running a business; the challenges of starting up and growing a dynamic new business are no different, regardless of whether you wear lipstick or not. We all have to focus on our cash flow right now and deal with the day-to-day tasks of managing a company, motivating our staff and delivering excellent service to our customers.

It's not just our breasts that make us different; it's who we are, how we think and the sometimes topsy-turvy emotional decision-making process that puts people and performance before profit. It's the same set of values that dictates the answers to a SWOT analysis; a male strength would be "myself", a female's strength would be "my team".

Let me give you a recent example. The keynote speaker at the conference was serial entrepreneur Karen Darby, millionaire founder of Simply Switch, amongst other businesses. She is about to launch a new venture and is paying her new business sidekick – a man – more than she is paying herself. How many male bosses would do that, I ask you? But she is smart enough to appreciate that it pays to employ people who are cleverer than you.

I used to be quite uncomfortable at the thought that women-only initiatives would give businesswomen an unfair advantage over men. I'm finding it much easier to live with now.

I've said all along women don't need the gender specific business support proffered by well-meaning but ineffective enterprise agencies and local government business development bodies. But tangible, valuable, financial support, advice and bespoke banking services are different.

So while I'm still not entirely convinced that it's absolutely fair, women shouldn't cut off their noses to spite their faces. They should definitely go out and take firm advantage of any special deals, preferential rates, expert financial advice and hand-holding services offered by the banks.

Oh, by the way, Happy International Women's Day.