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Forbes Women's Summit focuses on entrepreneurship
福布斯女性峰會暢談創業問題
Hundreds of female entrepreneurs and business leaders across various industries gather for Forbes Women Summit in New York. The theme for this year's summit is entrepreneurship -- how some of the most successful women built their businesses, the challenges they faced and how they transformed the rules of engagement.
While women in the upper echelons of corporations around the world continue to fight for equality and progress, women entrepreneurs have something to rejoice about. According to social enterprise firm Womenable, women-owned firms raking in revenues of at least $10 million have increased by 57% over the last decade. For many of these self-made entrepreneurs, it wasn't an easy climb to the top.
At this year's annual Forbes Women Summit, some of the world's most successful women share their struggles. Jennifer Hyman, co-founder of Rent the Runway, a retail company which makes designer dresses for rent, describes one meeting with a top venture capitalist that left her feeling dismissed.
"As a woman, I found I was always doubted on my analytical abilities so I felt like I had to lead with that in order to convince them that I know what I'm talking about, and I know how to bring the business to profitability. And at the end of the pitch, the head of the firm comes up to me, he grabs my hand in his, cups my hand and says, "You are just so adorable..." said Jennifer Hyman, co-founder, Rent the Runway.
Real estate developer and entrepreneur Ivanka Trump shares a similar story.
"We were in the Middle East, just landed, and we get off the plane and we're ready to go to the meetings, and we're all psyched up, it's my first business trip and the gentlemen who were there to greet us took my brother in one car and me in another and five minutes later, we pull up at a mall. And I said, "Where are we " because we had a divide and conquer strategy, we had several meetings scheduled. And he said, "They thought you'd prefer to go shopping but your brothers are at the office," Trump said.
"One conversation we heard time and time again is access to capital.If you look at the traditional capital opportunities, venture capital and the like, it's such a huge challenge for women to get funded. The number of women in the VC world is still marginal and so many of the big VC firms are dominated by men and they often may not have the appetite or understand the market that these women are trying to enter," said Moira Forbes, executive VP, Forbes Media.
Despite the roadblocks, the number of women-owned firms in the U.S. continues to climb. It's now estimated there are nearly nine and a half million in America, making up almost a third of all businesses across the country.
"...one of the things I say as a female entrepreneur I've noticed that one of my greatest strengths is also my weakness and that as a woman being underestimated. So being underestimated hurt me along the journey, but it also helped me along the journey," said Sarah Blakely, founder, Spanx.
According to some studies, the number of wealthy women across the U.S. is growing twice as fast as men. It's not just wealthy women funding other women entrepreneurs. Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have also helped. Almost half of Indiegogo's successful campaigns are run by women.
