Women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs, starting businesses at twice the rate of men. And at least one group helping women hopes to launch a chapter in the Baltimore area.
Ladies Who Launch, which is based in Ohio but has local “incubators” across the nation, said it is interviewing potential women to lead an incubator in Baltimore.
“We are looking to go into Baltimore,” said Victoria Colligan, a co-founder of Ladies Who Launch. “We are interviewing lady leaders in the area.”
In its three years, business for Ladies Who Launch has more than doubled, Colligan said, thanks in part to a merger with Learning Solutions Company, a women-geared entrepreneur company created by Beth Schoenfeldt.
Excluding self-employed women, there are 6.2 million women-owned companies, employing 9.2 million people in the United States, according to the Center for Women?s Business Research.
Women-owned firms generate $1.15 trillion in annual sales, and 1 in 11 adults women is an entrepreneur, the center said.
But it?s groups like Ladies Who Launch that provide the networking, resources and ? most importantly ? motivation for women entrepreneurs, said Jennifer Ransaw Smith, a Columbia resident.
Networking proved valuable
Five years ago, Ransaw Smith resigned from her marketing job to become a stay-at-home mom. Last year, she attended a Ladies Who Launch Workshop in Annapolis.
“I had been reading about Ladies Who Launch,” Ransaw Smith said. “I went to a group meeting and it was a phenomenal experience.”
She said that in the meeting she attended, about six women in various stages of their career or life plans met in Annapolis and discussed their previous work experience and passion to start a business.
Each person was given an assignment to help write a press release for the other women and their respective business ideas.
One of Ransaw Smith?s first customers in her business launch was River West Marketing of Annapolis. She bonded with the owners, eventually becoming a partner in the now three-woman firm.
“Ladies Who Launch took me in a direction I wasn?t even looking for,” Ransaw Smith said.
“When you start getting in a certain [career] space, you need to start associating within that same space,” she said. “They give you ideas and help build your momentum.”
More detail
» Construction is the fastest growing segment for female entrepreneurs, according to the Center for Women?s Business Research
» Women-owned businesses spend an estimated $546 million on salaries and benefits annually
» Women are more likely to start their own business ? 73 percent vs. 60 percent of men ? instead of inheriting, purchasing or otherwise acquiring a firm.
