Female Venture Capital

Women often go missing from the 100-plus entrepreneurial competitions held annually in the U.S., where winners take home prizes ranging from cash and trophies to contacts that can lead to opportunities.  In the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) 2010 contest, just 25 of the 145 competitors were women and the winners and runners-up were all male.  Since 2007 only 13 percent of the event's 117 finalists have been female.  The scant presence of women in such events "makes me want to put my head down and weep," says J. Janelle Shubert, director of the Center for Women's Leadership at Babson College.

"Where are the girls?" Jane Pak asked the two other female judges.  "It was so obvious to us that this was a problem," says Pak, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners.  "No one else seemed to notice."

While no formal statistics are kept, several people connected with business plan and entrepreneurship competitions say women represent at most 20 percent of entrants.  That's even though they launch 40 percent of all private companies, according to the Kauffman Foundation, which promotes entrepreneurship. "Fewer women are still finding their way into spearheading their own idea," says Sara Gragnolati, 33, the first solo woman to win the top prize in Babson's MBA business plan contest, launched more than two decades ago.  She took home $20,000 for her company, Cocomama Foods, which sells gluten-free breakfast cereals. "I felt kind of honored," Gragnolati says, "but I found it surprising and sad" that it had taken so long for a woman to win.

Experts in entrepreneurship—both women and men—say a lack of confidence and bluster, an aversion to risk, and a continued scarcity of women in engineering programs may explain the shortage.  Pak believes the problem starts in childhood. "Even the most progressive parents don't assume their daughters are going to be primary breadwinners," she says.

Efforts are under way to boost participation by women.  Ernst & Young set up its annual Entrepreneurial Winning Women contest in 2008 to strengthen promising female-led businesses by connecting them with potential partners and investors.  This year, Kauffman Foundation and Astia are sponsoring the first Women in Science and Engineering Business Idea Competition.

Source: Bloomberg BusinessWeek, February 14, 2011

Comments

[freelance writer jobs]

I like this part "Efforts are under way to boost participation by women".