As we move toward the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (March 8), it is clear that the world of business is being transformed by women, but the gender makeup of business leadership has barely changed.
While there is a slight upward trend in the number of women leaders, the overall figures are still very low. In business leadership in 2009, women held 49% of the jobs in the U.S. and 50% of all managerial positions. A 2006 report from the U.S. Department of Labor noted that women outnumber men in such mid-level occupations as financial managers; human resource managers; educational administrators; medical and health services managers; accountants and auditors; and budget analysts; and property, real estate, and social community service managers.
So while at the middle-management level, women have made substantial progress, at the top management level the statistics are still quite depressing.
In 2010 only 2.4% of the U.S. Fortune 500 chief executives were female. In the FTSE 500 the statistics are even worse–only 1.8% of its companies are led by women. Women’s access to boardroom seats is also troubling, particularly in the U.S. and U.K. In the FTSE 100, for example, 12.5% of directors are women, a tiny improvement on the 12.2% in 2009 and 11.7% in 2008.
There appears to be a common trait Among these highly successful women entrepreneurs. Bellow are the common traits of successful women entrepreneur:
Have a Fomulae for Success:
Some research work had shown that women entrepreneurs were as equally driven to achieve success as men. In most cases, women entrepreneurs had to work harder to make their companies a success or to prove their competence as business owners. Majority of women owner-managers considered themselves to be successful and their chance for further success to be between good and excellent. Some foresaw expanding their businesses in the next two years and were not considering giving up their businesses irrespective of the competitive business challenge
Quality of product/service:
Providing quality product/service was an important hallmark of a successful business as it produced satisfied customers and led to customer loyalty. One way of ensuring this was that the entrepreneurs must have a good personal knowledge of the product and service provided.
Quality of personnel:
A successful business also depend on the quality and commitment of its personnel. The ability to attract, motivate, train and retain human resources was important to every business.
Personal Qualities:
The personal qualities of women entrepreneurs were also considered essential to the success of the business- qualities such as strong determination, hard work, self-confidence, personal discipline and other desirable attributes.
Sound and proper business plans:
A sound and properly designed business plan has been attributed by successful women entrepreneur as a vital tool to the success of a business, most especially at the early stage. This is believed to be an guide for the business owner in achieving the business goals and objectives.
Focus on a market niche:
understanding a business audience or customer and providing goods or services to suite that niche is one of the highlighted skill of a successful entrepreneur. This becomes imperative as a lack of focus has be proven to be the reason for the failure of many business enterprises.
Visionary Leadership:
Ability to forecast the future of the business and follow through is also one of the key trait of these successful women business entrepreneurs. This skill depicts the leadership ability of an entrepreneur.
