Around the world business startups are booming and there is no evidence of it stopping soon – but how many of those companies have female founders?
It’s a difficult task to get a business off the ground but until recently, women have been catching males up and are being recognised as successful entrepreneurs. Although women still are in the shadows of male business success rates they’re on the right path to outnumbering them. But, where in the world is best to set up a business?
Dell’s Women Entrepreneur Cities Index revealed the best cities for female entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses in. But where came out on top? New York, New York.
New York has seen an influx of startups and entrepreneurs – that’s why it’s predicted to surpass Silicon Valley.
When looking at the Dell Index, breaking the results and cities down, New York City was a clear overall winner, coming first for both markets and culture. There were some surprising entrants to the list – including Boston, Stockholm and Singapore.
There are women starting and growing businesses in every sector and over the past 5 years, the number of women-led firms has increased by 20 percent. A study done in 2016 found that a total of 413,899 women-owned firms were in New York – nearly double of Los Angeles. Not only is this amount still growing at an astounding rate, but NYC is also creating a supportive environment for women-led tech startups and aspirational entrepreneurs.
There is also talk that women receiving STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) degrees is part of the high-growth rates and success of women entrepreneurs.
The top 50 cities have been plotted onto the interactive map below, but the top 10 for each of five pillars (markets, talent, capital, culture and technology) are:
- New York City
- Bay Area
- London
- Boston
- Los Angeles
- Stockholm
- Singapore
- Washington D.C.
- Toronto
- Seattle
So, between the money and the culture, New York makes a strong case for entrepreneurs.
On the other hand, the UK’s capital city ranked in third place for its markets and capital it offers and also came in second place for its innovative technology available to start-ups and entrepreneurs. In 2017 the annual revenue of women-led companies in the UK grew at 28 percent with a median turnover of £3.7m. These statistics help us understand the growth of women in business and how we should expect to see more female CEOs and founders in a variety of sectors.
London saw an array of startups in 2017 and despite Brexit, the UK’s capital still has clout on the global tech stage. One of which was Rubric – an app that helps users come up with the perfect witty Instagram caption. In a world obsessed with social media and the newest tech and apps this is a simple but effective way to capture the interests of Instagrammers. It was named as one of Business Insider’s 29 coolest UK female startups of 2017.
The only city outside of North America and Europe to make it into Dell’s Women Entrepreneur Cities Index was Singapore. Women are breaking their way through the ceiling and managed to put Singapore on the map for innovative startups. A recent successful women-led startup from Singapore was PolicyPal by Val Yap who made it onto the Forbes 30-under-30 Asia.
Businesses and entrepreneurs around the world should be asking themselves how they can support women to develop and create innovative startups — whether it be in the US, UK or Asia. Simple ways to do this could be to support programs that help women learn about entrepreneurship, help them connect with other successful business people and support them in accessing high-quality credit sources to build their business ideas with.
There is still room for improvement as men still own 1.5 times as many businesses and have 3.5 times more employees than women do, however we are on the path to a balanced business economy.
So, what country will be recognised for its potential to support female entrepreneurs next? Maybe the likes of Cape Town, Johannesburg or New Delhi.
You can view the full interactive graphic here which shows the current 50 cities that foster the growth of women-led businesses.
