Three Women Who Made It

Reaction Paper #1

Three Women Who Made It

1. Summary

The Business case presented three women namely Janet Jones, Joanne Marlowe and Celia Tejada with their own endeavours on starting up their own business until they attained their success. Janet Jones started her cab service named Pet-mobile which is not an ordinary taxi service because her passengers are not humans but instead they are human’s pets (ex. Dogs and cats). She usually charges $20-$30 for a round-trip using her truck painted with her business name and fully equipped with facilities that ensures safety of her clients. Another business owner is Joanne Marlowe who started with a towel company and eventually made fame at garment industry. Marlowe recalled how she worked very hard during the start-up of the business with barely sleeping for only 3 hours a day. Today, she sells more than $8 million worth of towels from its humble beginning of $750. Lastly, we have Celia Tejada a clothing designer who started a sportswear line inspired with heavier Spanish design elements. Her earlier struggles in starting up the business include studying at an international school and eventually having to handle or supervise all departments of the business well. Today, her clothing lines are carried by more than 300 specialty shops in Spain and three upscale California department stores.  

1. Critique

The article simply presents how the three women started from scratch and eventually made their name on their chosen businesses. Early struggles and few strategies on business were also presented. However, what I don’t like is that the details were so brief there’s not much information to grasp. Also, women empowerment and other related issues regarding starting up the business and how they juggle it with their personal life were not discussed in the article.

1. Meaning

A closer observation at the business world and you will come to the reality that it’s ruled by men. Take a look at the Forbes’s list of world billionaires and you will observe that it is dominated by men. Well, you may say it’s a man’s world but women are taking the bull by the horn. Overtime, we have seen women entrepreneurs start businesses and risen to the pinnacle of success. We now have women entrepreneurs who are drop out billionaires, sitting atop multi-billion dollar empires.  Entrepreneurship was once considered a man's domain, but the tide has shifted: More than 9 million U.S. firms are now owned by women, employing nearly 8 million people and generating $1.5 trillion in sales, according to 2015 data from the National Association of Women Business Owners.

“While the numbers are growing, there are still too few female investors and startup entrepreneurs, which can make it more challenging to raise capital and find mentors," said Megan Smyth, CEO and co-founder of FitReserve. "Network and you will discover that there are plenty of women and men who are eager to advocate for and mentor female entrepreneurs.” 

1. Reaction

1. What particular barriers do women face in launching businesses?

There is a substantial difference between beliefs of men and women regarding the possession of ‘entrepreneurial capital’ that is, the skills, knowledge and experience to begin a new firm. Initial levels of capitalisation are strong indicators of the future performance of a new firm. Thus, where the owner has high levels of human capital (education, managerial experience), social capital (extensive networks) and financial capital (income, savings, collateral) the venture is more likely to succeed. Entrepreneurial capital is largely accrued from either previous employment (before becoming self-employed) or prior business ownership. Evidence suggests that women begin their firms with lower levels of both human and financial capital and this relates to their experiences of employment and serial entrepreneurship. Women have high levels of human capital in terms of educational attainment but this is still not translated into an equitable share of senior management roles.This affects women’s access to networks and, crucially, constrains the accrual of financial capital and associated collateral. Essentially, women enter business ownership with lower levels of entrepreneurial capital overall which in turn, affects the sustainability of the enterprise. Such factors, combined with a lower level of engagement with business ownership and an absence of relevant role models combine to suggest that women, as a population, have lower self-confidence to move into entrepreneurship. Women are less likelyto personally know someone who has recently started a new firm given there are fewer women overall in the business population