Although most are still one-woman operations, women-owned businesses are growing at a rapid clip, the Center for Women's Business Research reports. In the Tampa Bay area, there are now an estimated 65,825 businesses in which women own at least 51 percent of the company, a 37 percent gain in the past seven years. That's twice the growth rate for all private companies in the Tampa Bay area. Including the 38,258 companies in which men and women split ownership 50-50, women now have at least a 50 percent stake in half the area's privately held companies.
Similar gains are occuring in other parts of the country. Women are now majority owners of about 6.7-million of the country's 22.3-million private companies and half owners of 4-million others.
"Part of it is the increased access to capital," said Sharon Hadary, executive director of the center in Washington, D.C. "Part of it is the evolution of women in business in general as they've moved from being primarily administrative and clerical into more senior positions. A lot of it is also seeing other women in business and saying, "If other women can do this, I can do it too.' "
Most women-owned businesses are still small. In the Tampa Bay area, only 12,788 employ someone other than the business owner, with 69,432 people on their payrolls. Annual sales are $12.8-billion, a 63 percent gain in seven years.
The center's research is based on U.S. Census data. The numbers do not include public companies or nonprofit organizations.
