Access to Capital: Lack of access to capital continues to be a barrier for women-owned businesses. On average, women start their business with half as much capital as men ($75,000 vs. $135,000). Women-owned and men-owned high growth potential firms experience larger disparities in capital at the time of founding ($150,000 vs. $320,000).

Supplier Diversity: Corporations use supplier diversity programs to strengthen their supply chains by cultivating the marketplace of women-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned and LGBT-owned vendors. These programs originated as government initiatives to foster the use of underutilized historically disenfranchised businesses.

Reasons to Invest in Women: Women-owned firms are a vital component of the economy.  As of 2012, the United States had approximately 9 million privately-held women-owned firms. Firms owned by women are responsible for approximately$1.4 trillion in sales. 11.7% of these firms have employees other than the owner, and these firms employ 7.8 million people. There are many reasons we should invest in and support the growth of women-owned and women-led ventures. Here are our top 5.

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