The world now has more female entrepreneurs than ever, and the numbers are rising each year. More women, including women of color, are looking for business opportunities. They are capitalizing on their visions and making them a reality. Consequently, the workforce is becoming more and more diverse.

Things have never looked better for female entrepreneurs. Sadly, the numbers tell only part of the story. The obstacles met by women who have embraced business ownership are immense. They are also very distinct from those faced by their male counterparts. Female-owned businesses are still in the minority. Startup life is never easy, and attempting it as a female entrepreneur presents its own distinctive set of challenges.

Today, about ten million American women own businesses. Their endeavors account for about 3 trillion dollars added to the US economy each year. They have created around 23 million jobs. In almost two-thirds of this country’s families, women are the primary or co-breadwinner. Entrepreneurship is an outstanding choice that can offer more income. It also gives families access to more varied lifestyle choices.

In this article, we’ve put together a short report on the business funding opportunities open to women. We also look at the challenges women face in starting up and running a business.

Opportunities for Female Entrepreneurs

Grants.gov

This site is a database of grants sponsored by the Federal Government, and it includes grants for small businesses. The benefits vary across different types of grants and government agencies. You may need to sort through various options to find the most relevant ones for your business. Over a dozen federal government agencies take part in the database.

Tory Burch Foundation

This foundation is about women helping women. The foundation offers up to $100,000 to help get woman-owned business rolling. Candidates have access to successful businesswomen who can provide advice and mentorship. They may also be eligible for a $10,000 grant for business education. The funding itself is excellent. But, this access to knowledge, experience, and connections is just as valuable.

InnovateHer Challenge

The SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership is the sponsor of this grant. It provides federal funding to female entrepreneurs. whose businesses aim to empower women and otherwise enrich their lives. The winner gets $40,000, runner-up $20,000, and second runner-up $10,000.

Girlboss Foundation

It’s appropriate that a business named Girlboss lives up to its title and launch some of its fans into becoming female bosses. Women innovators can get a $15,000 grant to develop their businesses. Since it started in 2014, the Girlboss Foundation has distributed over $130,000. It awards grants every two years.

Other Funding Sources

Many other funding options are emerging for women entrepreneurs. These options include venture capital, angel networks, Kickstarter, and government grants. Women have access to a large number of entrepreneurship development programs. Sometimes it takes a little digging, but the opportunities do exist.

What are the Main Challenges for Female Leaders?

Gender Stereotypes

Most Americans see men as better suited for some positions. For example, they think men would be better at running a large oil or gas company. They are more likely to see a woman heading an event catering business or a retail outlet. The stereotyping problem is vast. Yet, women continue to break down gender barriers. As it becomes prevalent, public perception will change. Until then, we need to see gender stereotyping as a long-term problem. Everyone needs to play a part in bringing about the change.

Limited Funding

Not all companies are lucky enough to have a financier. Some have to raise capital on their own. Others depend on credit cards or bootstrap their business ventures. Women’s companies are among the leading enterprises that lack financial support. Many institutions tend to back male-owned businesses. It’s common for them to deny women loans due to gender and cultural biases. Also, female-led, innovation-driven startup companies aren’t getting enough venture capital funding. Woman-owned companies get less than 5% of venture capital.

Solutions to Problems Faced by Female Entrepreneurs

What can women and those who support them do to overcome these challenges?

1. Address failure. Both males and females can fail in business. Hone your survival strategies. Learn to respond well to lost opportunities and mistakes and move forward.
2. Seek help. It doesn’t matter if you need to deal with a particular business issue, or you’re looking to secure financing. Find the courage to ask for help.
3. Share the stories. Provide the opportunity for other female entrepreneurs to shine. Storytelling serves as inspiration. It opens up networks for women to connect and mentor.

Women Entrepreneurs Have a Bright Future

You may need to work harder and be resourceful to get the respect of your male contemporaries. But, being a woman doesn’t have to hold you back as an entrepreneur.

There are now more successful businesswomen than ever. The CEO of Ellevest spoke of a “growing ecosystem supporting women entrepreneurs and woman-owned businesses.” The future of female entrepreneurship is bright. The returns are worth the struggle. But women must be aware that they may face different trials along their business journey.

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We educate, socialize, and exercise in new and different ways, thanks to COVID-19. The novel coronavirus seems to have altered every aspect of our lives. One of the most common disruptions has been the impact on our shopping and buying habits. Social distancing, shortages, and ever-changing demands have changed the way we shop. We’re buying everyday products, food, and everything else in new and different ways.

Psychological Factors

Many psychological factors affect our buying decisions during the pandemic. The lockdown has forced more family interaction, but there is not much social cohesion. Communities are experiencing social disruption as cultural norms change. Loneliness may affect the decisions of those who live outside of a family unit. Some families are going through periods of bereavement as they bury members stricken by the disease. The environment is another factor that marketers need to take into consideration. So are social status and social integration.

Coronavirus Psychological Behaviors

Hoarding

People assign value to less available items, like toilet paper. Soon after the announcement of the pandemic, we saw Scarcity vs. Abundance. People engaged in overbuying behaviors. Hoarding is a natural adaptive behavior. It kicks in any time there is irregular supply of resources. It is in our brains’ programming to stock up when the news induces a panic that stores are running out of food.

Stockouts

In major cities, COVID-19 is limiting pastimes. City officials are discouraging the use of buses and subways. So, hundreds of thousands of Americans are now buying bicycles. In the early days of the pandemic, it was also hard to find rice, pasta, wipes, canned tuna, and hand sanitizer. Some stores placed limitations on how many items consumers could buy.

Trauma

COVID-19 was a sudden, unexpected, overwhelming, intense emotional blow. It resulted in welfare lines off 5th Avenue, and social, economic, and health trauma. Many people have reported feelings of betrayal, powerlessness, and stigmatization. It has activated the fight or flight response in people. They feel it as the TV networks announce each new threat. The pandemic has shown that we must create safe environments. These environments help counteract the long-term effects of chronic stress.

Physiological Stress

COVID-19 is also manifesting itself in anxiety and panic disorders. It is increasing people’s cortisol and causing sleep deprivation. Lack of exercise is causing endorphin levels to plummet. Thus, people have no protection from stress. They are consuming more canned goods and fewer fresh vegetables. Therefore, declining nutrition and critical vitamins may affect their mood. You can take back control by taking care of your emotional health. Make time to unwind and connect with others.

Theory of Learned Helplessness

When none of your actions work, no matter what you do, you may decide to do nothing. Learned helplessness is a theory for depression. It states that when nothing works, a person stops trying. That’s why we see the desperation in hotspots like Florida and California. Some people may choose not to leave infected environments. So, they stay, even though it makes rational sense to go. How can one fix learned helplessness? Only by regaining mastery and empowering oneself.

Abnormal Psychology

Many people feel safe at home during the pandemic. Yet, they are reporting loneliness, high levels of fear, anger, and boredom. The lack of authority is causing hopelessness in many. People are displaying antisocial behavior, and gang activity is rising in New York. Despite these worrying developments, it’s essential to stay in perspective. We need to be compassionate to ourselves when things don’t go as planned.

No More Conspicuous Consumption

Luxury goods were the first customer segment to experience cutbacks due to the pandemic. It might be the last to recover since this segment is the most discretionary of all consumer purchases. The shutdown in the lifestyles of affluent consumers has given them downtime. They can now reassess their priorities. It’s because the market for luxury items thrives on the psychology of wealthy buyers. If they feel good about themselves, they splurge. If they don’t, they won’t.

COVID-19 has breached the consumer’s mind and psychology, which may upset his or her ways of buying. Brands have to use new ways of communicating. It’s the best way to reduce the psychological impact on consumers. Meanwhile, technology companies are coming up with new offerings. It may open new avenues to brands, enabling them to influence consumer behavior.

Retailers need to understand the psychology of shoppers. They can then use those insights to influence their buying behavior. But evaluating the long-term potential of consumers’ behavior is difficult. Still, retailers have the power to help shape their consumers’ buying decisions. They can also use the opportunity to provide a meaningful online presence. They can be there for customers who cannot enter their stores.

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From the late 1970s to the early 21st century, women’s participation in the labor force began a steady climb. What was remarkable about this era? The number of women in the workforce with a child under the age of 1 rose from 20 to 62 percent.

At the same time, young women in their late teens started to alter their career expectations. Mindsets shifted, and women began to expect long, unbroken careers. Marriage and children would no longer interrupt their professions. In turn, this development motivated them to invest more in their education. Growing numbers went to college and beyond. It prepared them for careers that gave them prestige closer to men in the workplace.

Then, women began to postpone marriage and childbearing. Part of the reason was the growing popularity of the birth control pill. This reliable contraceptive gave women control over the timing of childbearing. Women began to see their identities and their lives differently. Their professional selves became as crucial as their families.

Experts have noted an interesting trend in women’s participation in the workforce. In the 1970s, a single income could no longer support a comfortable lifestyle. It was an economic need, and not opportunity, that drove women out to work. The rise in Affirmative Action forced companies to place women in non-traditional positions. That forced experience also helped to change the cultural mindset.

Women in Management Positions

The first-ever female CEO of a Fortune 500 company was Katharine Graham. She became the Washington Post parent’s CEO in 1972, breaking a new barrier, and was often the only woman in the newsroom. Other females rose to prominence in the 70s and 80s. Of note were Marion Sandler of Golden West Financial and Linda Wachner of Warnaco Group Inc.

In 1980, no women had reached the top executive ranks of the Fortune 100. Eleven percent of those corporate leaders were women by 2001. The number of businesses with female CEOs has increased more than six-fold.

Since 1980, American firms have created almost 4.5 million management positions. Women occupy 2.6 million of these positions. Unfortunately, the gender wage gap has kept step with these statistics. Women’s increasing representation in management is in “feminized” fields. The gender wage gaps are the most extreme in those fields. But the lowest gaps are in occupations with the lowest proportions of women. For example, engineering and architecture have small wage gaps.

Gender-Based Barriers to Senior Management

Most Americans find women as innovative and intelligent as men. Yet, very few women reach the top executive level. Why are so few women making it to the C-suite? Females who want to ascend to the highest levels in business also face a double standard. They have to eclipse males if they’re going to prove themselves.

Enter the concept of the “Glass Ceiling.” The US Department of Labor described the glass ceiling in 1991 as a set of artificial obstacles based on arbitrariness. They obstruct qualified individuals from promotions to management positions in their organization. The path that women must take to reach the executive level is complex with diverse barriers.

Yet, diversity in the workplace is good for business. The new service economy relies on skills that come easily to women. For example, this economy calls for attention to detail, determination, and measured thinking. The problems with the obstacles facing women are human created. Organizations and society need to do more to give all women the chance to rise to the top.

The inaccurate perception of gender equality limits opportunities for women as a group. Why? Because it creates false optimism. It also eliminates the perceived need to make things better. News articles sometimes tout examples of successful women. They flaunt them as evidence that the glass ceiling is no more. A few women have found their way into positions of power. Yet, many inequalities still exist in the representation of women in senior positions.

Most incumbent CEOs and board members are men. They set the tone and culture for determining who is fit to succeed. Also, a woman’s childcare situation is a significant determinant in whether she attains the rank of CEO. Finding high-quality, affordable childcare remains a challenge. By the time she becomes CEO, a woman would have had to withstand a lot.

The demands of family life have also increased. Being a mother has become more intensive. Today’s working mothers spend as much time with their children as did stay-at-home moms in the 1970s.

Closing the Gender Gap

Businesses have made progress in advancing women’s careers. They still have a long way to go in achieving true gender equality in the workplace. Yet, everyone benefits from closing the gender gap. Customers benefit, and so do teams, and even companies’ bottom lines. Females made great strides in the 1970s and 80s as they entered the workforce. It’s time to build on those gains and make the C suite more hospitable to women.

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More Cars, Less Public Transportation

People would prefer to spend an hour stuck in traffic than risk 30 minutes exposed to crowds on a train. Some companies are asking returning employees to avoid public transportation at all costs. At least for now, the car is making a comeback, and gasoline demand is rebounding. It’s too soon to say whether this change is permanent. We can use Asia, which reopened earlier than the rest of the world, as a point of reference. In some Asian countries, people are venturing back on the trains.

A Decline in Ridesharing

Again, people have concerns about social distancing and prefer getting a vehicle of their own. South Korean car company Hyundai reports that it now sees a silver lining after the virus initially caused sales to plummet. The company is planning to ramp-up the online sales of its vehicles. MG Motor India believes that this pandemic will strengthen the concept of YOLO. You Only Live Once, so people might start spending more on things like a luxury car. Both scenarios threaten the ridesharing industry.

Changes to Eating Out

Restaurants need to be ready for the changes to diners’ relationship with eating out. These establishments will be functioning in a different world from before the lockdowns. Temperature checks for staff will become the norm. No one will tolerate employees working while sick. Owners and operators will also scramble to remodel kitchen and dining areas. These areas now have to accommodate customer and staff physical distancing.

Increased Attention to Health and Wellness

Precaution and prevention will become essential themes in our daily lives. Building immunity will become the new mantra. Many magic formulae, for example, superfoods and home medicines, will become popular. People will try to bolster their bodies against attacks and infections. People are also likely to turn to vitamins and other supplements to try and stay healthy.

Increased Importance Attached to Insurance

The coronavirus will impact almost all facets of the insurance sector. It will activate many policies. Due to its large scale, this pandemic can affect several insurance lines. Examples are healthcare and hospitalization, life, pension, and some types of property insurance. It’s a good time for business interruption insurance. This type of insurance covers loss of income due to a suspension of operations.

Willingness to Experiment with New Products

Short-term stockouts and bare shelves have disrupted brand loyalty. These factors have prompted increased experimentation. People are trying out both private label and national branded grocery items. US consumers have been trying new brands since sheltering in place became commonplace. The majority did so because their usual brand was out of stock. Substitutions have been high in fast-selling staples such as meat and protein, pasta, dairy, frozen foods, canned goods, bread, and baked products.

Decreased Consumer Spending

The financial costs of coronavirus have meant consumers are less motivated to spend. Lockdown measures have limited where we can use our money. Shops and restaurants have closed, and governments have suspended air travel. Spending is down across all industries. Plus, many people assume that their family income will continue to fall in the coming months.

The Emergence of New Shopping Habits

The pandemic has thrust consumers out of their usual routines. They are more attentive to what they’re buying. They are health-conscious when shopping. Many are now making a more considerable effort to limit food waste. We also see much more desire to shop locally. We see it in where consumers now shop, and the products that they buy. Many consumers expect changes to their shopping habits to be permanent.

Consumers are Making Globally-Driven Decisions

We’ve mentioned that consumers are now showing a marked preference for shopping locally. Yet, the coronavirus pandemic has also gotten us to think global. Consumers will be more aware of where goods come from in a post-COVID-19 world. Thus, retailers will need to be more transparent about their global supply chains.

A Rise in Virtual Shopping

We expect to see a further move to virtual shopping alternatives. Online vehicle sales went up in the first weeks of the crisis in China. Yet traditional car sales collapsed. Many museums have started to produce online experiences by creating virtual rooms to showcase art. We are also seeing many professional exhibitions and meetings moving online. Chinese online retail giant Alibaba is now organizing no-meeting concerts. They use these events to live stream new content.

An Increase in Contactless Payments and Delivery

US shoppers have moved toward contactless interactions. This move is to help contain the spread of the virus. As a result, shoppers are using more omnichannel services. For example, they are requesting the delivery of groceries and food. They are also using store pickup options. Grocery delivery has increased worldwide.

Social Distancing Becomes the New Norm

Waiting in line may become difficult for some people. They may feel others are standing too close, especially if they aren’t wearing facemasks. Retailers may want to assign sales associates to help shoppers in the showroom. Or they can have reps in the aisles, so customers don’t have to wait in line. Self-service kiosks may become more popular. The onus will be on retailers to provide hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes. They can also offer clean styluses to use with touchscreens.

Hoarding

Pictures showing hoarding behavior became commonplace as the virus picked up steam. Consumers were buying more dietary supplements, vitamins, probiotics, and other immune-boosting products. Household cleaners, paper products, food, and beverages also increased in sales volume. In France and New Zealand, sales of toilet paper doubled, while it tripled in the US.

Responsible Buying

Hoarding causes product shortages. It has become an urgent problem for numerous essential businesses. But, as the quarantine continues, people are falling into new norms. Customers are making smarter buying choices. Panic buying practices will dissipate. With the aid of no-hoarding systems, consumers are buying quality food and supplies. These items will last longer, and it’s a better approach than only going for quantity.

A Decline in Sales of Big Ticket Items

Consumers are not considering buying items such as homes in the short term. Instead, they are focusing on “Survival” products, as described earlier. They are also buying “Sanity” products. These products include alcoholic beverages, beauty supplies, and electronics.

An Increase in the Sale of Home Furnishings

Offices have closed, and companies are encouraging their employees to work from home. Many of these employees are upgrading their spaces. They are buying items that allow them to be comfortable and efficient. Sales of gardening, home improvement, and interior design products have gone up in the US. Consumers are buying things like lamps, furniture, and area rugs. These items improve the quality of life, making the lockdowns easier to bear.

Increased Risk Aversion

Consumers are showing increased levels of price sensitivity. It can affect the will to shop around for alternative products. Consumers may focus on sticking to products they know and trust because they carry little risk. They may be willing to sample new brands. Still, they consider the tradeoff between cost, experimentation, and risk avoidance.

Increased Use of Self-Checkout

Shoppers say they prefer to go to stores with robust self-checkout options. They like vendors with touchless options. They are also using frictionless micro-markets to pay for their goods. Unattended shopping preserves health and safety and works for the good of both the consumers and the grocery employees. Some see the COVID-19 outbreak hastening a move to self-service. Yet, this move was already taking place.

Soaring Media Consumption

Coronavirus is also having a dramatic impact on media consumption. Total visits to NIH, CDC, and WHO quadrupled on digital platforms. These figures showed a six-fold increase in mobile platforms. Canada also had a rise in social media visits.

More Sales Made from Smartphones

The coronavirus pandemic has changed what consumers bought online during the lockdown. It has also changed where and how they made the purchases. Mobile purchases have grown since the outbreak began. This increase is partly due to improved user experiences. Brands started upgrading their apps and mobile sites pre-COVID-19. In contrast, online sales from non-mobile devices have shown a sharp decline.

Increased Customer Engagement

Email marketing remains a practical method to contact buyers. The pandemic seems to have prompted even more consumers to read and participate. The delivery of email has increased, and so have open rates, click-throughs, and conversions.

Consumers are Considering New Forms of Entertainment

Subscription services have increased their membership since the lockdowns began. Many more consumers are considering services such as Disney+, Netflix, and Spotify. Millennials and Gen Z customers were the generations showing the most substantial increases. Customers are also spending more time viewing different media. For example, the viewership of online video content from YouTube and TikTok has increased.

Consumers are doing Collective Shopping

One of the trends that have arisen because of the COVID-19 pandemic is group buying. Consumers are pooling their resources, doing collective shopping to get a discount. This change is positive. Retailers can respond by dropping the price of the product. They can stipulate a minimum purchase amount. In that way, consumers will have to buy in large quantities.

Fewer Consumers are Touching Items as they Shop

The coronavirus pandemic is changing our consciousness about touching things. We’ve already seen how people are wary of punching buttons on credit card readers. Many are cautious when pushing shopping carts. They are also on their guard when picking up merchandise that has come into contact with others. Stores are already encouraging contactless payment options such as Apple Pay. Macy’s holds items that consumers try on in fitting rooms for 24 hours before returning them to the racks.

An Increase in Digital Experiences

Movie theaters are still closed. In response, studios are planning to make first-run films available for home release. Films will be available to watch on-demand on the same day that they would have had their theater release. This trend could turn out to be one that allows personalization. It also enables more interactive delivery of content.

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