The Open Secrets Of Women's Business

The Age

Monday September 14, 1998

D. M. WALKER

Women manage small businesses more successfully than men, but cultural, social and financial barriers continue to hold some women entrepreneurs back, small business experts say.

Ms Helen Ward, a member of the Small Business Counselling Service, said women-run small businesses grew twice as quickly as male-run small enterprises. But Ms Ward said that networking to identify extra marketing opportunities was a skill some businesswomen lacked confidence in, or were less aware of than men.

In a 1996 Federal Government study, nearly 10 per cent of women small business operators cited being in a male-dominated industry as a major impediment to their success.

About one-half of women in small business belonged to business networks. ``Women still tend to feel guilty when taking time out to attend (networking opportunities),"Ms Ward said.

She said isolation for the 47per cent of women who worked in 182,000 home-based small business could cause narrow business vision.

``People who are in business have a very strong knowledge base of their business and industry, but they are often not necessarily aware enough of those macro factors which could ... impact on their businesses, and getting out and networking is one way .. to get that broader knowledge," Ms Ward said.

Ms Kerrie Clayton, small business spokeswoman for the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants, said networking and mentoring opportunities needed to take into account constraints home-based business placed upon women.

Ms Ward said that home-based businesswomen often mixed domestic duties and business work during the day, which offered flexibility to complete separate tasks, but could make it difficult to separate the roles.

A 1996 Federal Government survey found 90 per cent of women in small business were the primary care-givers at home, while half did all the domestic work. But Ms Ward said women were often more able to work synergetically with colleagues to maximise business results.

`` One of the most exciting things for women in starting their own businesses is they can start it with the culture that they are comfortable with," she said.

But evidence suggests women may not even get this far - in the 1996 Federal Government survey, 13 per cent of women said banks' perception that males were better credit risks at both start-up and expansion stage than women was a major obstacle.

The Minister for Small Business, Ms Louise Asher, said banks were ``very slow to change". ``It's only 20 years ago they wouldn't even give single women in full-time paid employment housing loans. I think there's still a reluctance from banks to lend women money," she said.

One-third more women than men start businesses with less than $1000, and women-run small businesses had a higher rate of survival than the male-managed.

Ms Ward said women could consider alternative methods of raising capital such as equity partners, which brought expertise to the company and did not require bricks and mortar as collateral.

Ms Clayton said the issue of finance was more a small business issue than one particularly pertaining to women, but it could still have a different impact on women. Ms Clayton said the media should use women as examples of business operators more frequently.

``It's not so much a matter of trying to pick out women who have been particularly successful and building a story around their success. It's about getting more of a balance," she said.

© 1998 The Age

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