Perspective of A Woman Business Owner

I am Luna Afroz, Founder of Luna Bags. I am often asked of my experience as a woman business owner. What’s my experience out there in the world? Are there any differences between male and female entrepreneurs?

We cannot completely stereotype since I believe that we are still individuals first; we are all unique. However, based on my observations and experiences, there are some distinct qualities that are shared by women business owners.

Again, these are my point of views and there may or may not be any scientific evidence behind them.

Women emphasize on foundations

I have observed it in myself as well as in other female entrepreneurs - we believe in building foundations first and then creating growth. There are pros and cons to it.

Women run businesses can be efficient or profitable since we are focusing on building the core first. However, sometimes, female business owners invest too much efforts after such foundational work. Many times, female founders tend not to secure investments, or form potential partnerships, or grow their teams because they don’t believe the foundation that they have built is solid enough.

Whereas a lot of men are very much comfortable with growth – again it has its pros and cons as well. A lot of men secure investments too early and burn them out before they are ready for it, or have gained valuable experiences in their field, or have gained significant tractions. In my humble opinion, one of the reasons startup failure rate is so high is because the growth happens without building solid foundations first. As a result, the startups fall crumbling down on its weak base.

Women do not put themselves out there too much 

Women tend to be more of task- masters rather than self-promoters. I can hear people getting frustrated and then pointing me out to Kim Kardashian. Understandable – however, I have seen this in myself as well as in other women. Putting this article out there on the internet has been a struggle for me. In my entire career, I have seen women doing too much back-end work ensuring that their project or startup runs smoothly while men are out there networking, building valuable relationships and getting the perceptions that they deserve the full credit.

Again, everything has its pros and cons – women can be deemed as trust-worthy or credible in such cases but may not progress in career so much because of lack of visibility and connections.

Loyalty matters to women. 

Women owned businesses can be tight knit since women business owners hold onto their team members that they consider good. This can be looked as a desirable quality. It enables women business owners to form tight-knit teams, build better products and culture. On the other end – they may sacrifice better performance or innovation – because the loyal members may lack in these areas.

Women try to do it all 

Last and, not the least, women, including women like me, – stretch ourselves too thin! We want to be good at entrepreneurship, cooking, gardening, decorating, etc. We want to be considered the wholesome human being – the wonder woman! In my observation, men are satisfied being good at their work or business ventures and the rest can be meh to them.

Society does not fully support women - at least by actions.

Society – yes, they say they stand up for women – they are there for us – they believe in women’s rights or believe in women’s day/month. However, these can be all words! When women decide to own and run their own businesses, life generally becomes more difficult for them – their partners do not seem to have the aptitude or inclination to lend their helping hands – starting from cooking to child-rearing to helping them out with their businesses. However, when men runs their businesses – the opposite of the scenario happens. How many times have you seen your female friend actively helping her husband and acting as his accountant, business development person, or human resource department.

The world is neither fair nor balanced. Neither are men or women. Both men and women can learn from one another as they share complementary values.

When I was young – in my early 20’s, I did not understand the meaning or benefit behind celebrating women’s day or women’s month. However, now I do. It’s because of the last bullet point mentioned above. We need to celebrate women’s day and/or women’s month, and support women owned businesses or firms till these things becomes very normal parts of society, where the society easily supports and accepts women as they support men today.