How Women Business Owners are Taking Over the World

Women business owners endure many diverse and inclusive challenges on their way to success. But in today’s world, we’re starting to see the rise of a businesswomen’s empire in which they help each other succeed. 

    Owning a business has always been challenging, it’s like a bargain, and a lot of factors in the market can help or hurt your business. But women business owners experience challenges far beyond the market. Elements like taking care of the home, working, and having to constantly look after other people may stop many women’s dreams of becoming entrepreneurs. 

    Fortunately, over the decades, women have started to outgrow the fear of following their dreams. Factors like the feminist movement, easy exposure through social media, and the exponential growth of women-owned small businesses. Has made many women and women of color confident in themselves to rise above the status quo and achieve all their desires.

Statistics About Women-Owned Businesses 

     As stated in the Annual Report from the National Business Council, in 2021 39.9% of businesses were owned by women. Compared to statistics from the U.S. Small Business Administration website, in 2014 only 21% of companies were women-owned. Likewise, between 2014 to 2016 women-owned businesses grew by 6%, which doubled the percentage of businesses owned by men in those same years (2021). Moreover, 14% of the overall 21% were due to the massive increase in businesses owned by minority women (2021). Slowly but surely, the numbers have been increasing, thanks to hardworking women who have been living against the standards of society and imposing their strength and resilience.

  But even as hard as it is to be a businesswoman in today’s world, we currently live in a society that is more open and willing to give fairer opportunities than before. In the 1980s, less than 10% of women owned a business, compared to 17% of men (Bento, 2021). 

    Therefore, we should celebrate women that paved the way when being a businessman was the standard. 

Meet Business Women Genius, Fanny Miller  

     Fanny Miller, the founder, owner, and CEO of El Latino Newspaper, Chula Vista Today, and Celebrando Latinas Magazine is one of those women who set the stage for all of us. She started her first business, El Latino Newspaper, in 1988, at the age of 21, with the help of six partners, three of them being her sisters. When their initial investment of $25,000 was gone after six months, four of the partners left and Fanny decided to buy her sister’s shares to take the lead.

    Miller is originally from Colombia, and when she turned 13 she was brought to the U.S. when she was adopted by her aunt. She lived with her aunt for only two years, when at the age of 15, she was taken to Utah. Miller did not stay longer than one year there when she decided to run back to California.

        “I have been by myself since I was 16 years old and have been taking care of myself since then, as I say, I’m still raising myself,”. “At 17 I had to start working full-time so I had to drop out of school, I only had one year left to finish High School,” Miller said.

       With no experience in the field, Miller took the initiative to start her first business. She had to do a lot of networking with publishers and took on many non-official mentors and started asking questions.

     “Most publishing events were full of older men, the field lacked women, and since I was young and a woman I feel like men did not see me as a threat or competition so they easily answered my questions, and I still have good relationships with those publishers,” Miller said.

   From there on, and after a lot of learning, her company only grew. But when Miller became a mom she had a lot on her plate dealing with family and her business, and she grew into a depression. So, she started looking into healing herself inside and outside. 

    “In the path of healing myself, I noticed that many women go through the same issue, especially Latina women, so I wanted to do a one-day event that focused on only pampering women,” Miller said. And that is where the idea for the Celebrando Latinas Conference came, which deals with discussions about mental health, physical health, free check-ups, beauty, technology, and business conferences.

     In its second year since the conference launched in 2011, Celebrando Latinas Conference became the largest conference in Spanish in the U.S.

    Miller uses her outlet to inspire women but most importantly, to comment about taking care of yourself. She is someone who took initiative and overcame her fears and is now helping other women do the same.

   “To be successful in a business you have to stay focused on what you want, be ready to take risks, have a goal, and just do it, believe in yourself,” Miller said. 

Key Take Away Section

   Women business owners have grown exponentially during the past decades. Even with society’s challenges against them. But the key takeaway from this is that It’s important that as women we care and help each other succeed. 

   Women like Fanny Miller have created a multi-versatile wellness conference dedicated to helping women heal themselves. She’s using her platform for the better of others.

   Women business owners are taking over the world, not only in numbers but in unity.