Women Entrepreneurs and Mompreneurs

Are you a woman with a great business idea? Did you know that in Canada, “four out of five businesses launched today are started by women”? According to a May 8 article called “In the Company of Women” by Lisa Wright in The Toronto Star on page U1 (a special section on Small Business), there are “821,000 self-employed women contributing $18 billion to the Canadian economy”.

Networking Groups and Websites for Women Entrepreneurs

Should you be interested in starting up your own business, consider contacting networking groups like:

Company of Women: www.companyofwomen.ca
Women Who Excel: www.womenwhoexcel.com
Athena Oakville: www.athenaoakville.ca
Women Entrepreneurs of Canada: www.wec.ca
Businesswomen in Trade: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/businesswomen/menu-en.asp
The Business and Professional Women’s Clubs of Ontario: http://www.bpwontario.org/public/home.php

The Canada-Ontario Business Service Centre’s Resources for Women (formerly Industry Canada’s The Network for Women Entrepreneurs) page offers an introductory “Women in Business Info-Guide”, a Q&A section (networking, business planning, mentoring, financing) and an extensive online business tools section.

When or if you require financing, check out the website for BDC, the Business Development Bank of Canada. A portion of their site called “Woman Entrepreneur” is dedicated to Canadian women entrepreneurs.

Want to do some reading? Your local public library might have just what you want; a search on entrepreneurial women at the Oakville Public Library indicates that there's lots on this topic.

Mompreneurs

A subset of women entrepreneurs who are growing in numbers are mompreneurs. The term “mompreneur” refers to women who have left the corporate workforce to care for their families and during this time have started home-based businesses; these businesses are generally based on the creation of products/services that they have found a need or desire for during the care of their young children and families and that still allow the business founder to balance her home and work lives.
In February, 2008, the CBC website profiled mompreneurs as a trend on the “Fortune Hunters” page. “The Mompreneur Trend” profiles three women and their businesses. Don’t forget to check out the SavvyMom Mompreneur of the Year Award website, celebrating innovative ideas by Canadian mompreneurs.

More on Angel Investors

Angel Investors Continued...

(see also Angel Investors: An Alternative Source of Financing for Small Business, a post in this blog dated April 23, 2008 which also features several links to angel investor groups)

Profit magazine featured a great article in its May 2008 issue called "Private Investing: After the Handshake" written by Kara Aaserud. Ms. Aaserud reviews how angel investing can result in a double-edged sword business relationship between entrepreneurs and their angels.

This article links to related, previous Profit or Canadian Business Online articles:
1. "Two Days in the Dragons' Den: Tips for Pitching Your Business Idea" focuses on pitching your product idea to various types of investors; this article appeared in the June 2007 issue of Profit and was written by Rick Spence.
2. "Angel Investor Groups: Heavenly Bodies" reviews the process of getting in front of angel investor groups and what to expect; this article was written by Jeff Dennis in Canadian Business Online and appeared on December 5, 2007.

Find Out More about the Elusive Teen Market

Do you have a product or service that you think would appeal to the teen or youth market? How do you find out more about this market that represents a large demographic having a fair amount of disposable income?

Check out the census portion of Statistics Canada’s website for demographic information by age and sex. The Portrait of the Canadian Population in 2006, by Age and Sex, 2006 Census paints a good picture of Canadians according to their age and sex and where they live in every province or territory. Starting on page 16, check out the descriptions and age pyramids province by province. You will see differences between 2001 and 2006 and, generally, the aging of the population with most provinces exhibiting large demographic “bumps” in the baby-boomers and children of the baby-boomers (born between 1975 and 1995).

PBS Frontline produces “incisive documentaries covering the scope and complexity of the human experience”. One of the recent documentaries is called “The Merchants of Cool: A Report on the Creators & Marketers of Popular Culture for Teenagers”. The show can be viewed online or you can read the interviews and reports. One of the companies profiled on this site that specializes in “cool hunting” or research on youth culture is Look-Look.

Should you wish to do some reading on selling to teenagers, check out your local public library for copies of books like Alissa Quart’s “Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers”.