Female entrepreneurs are making a huge difference in the business world. Here are some of the top women and the results of their successful companies.
1. Arlene Dickinson
Photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/44775455@N00
Following her first successful company, Arlene Dickinson founded Arlene Dickinson Enterprises, which has changed the way the lives of entrepreneurs play out. Investments, educational content and more has helped entrepreneurs get started with their own businesses and has resulted in many more success stories than would have yielded if entrepreneurs had to learn everything on their own. Dickinson knows businesses can’t run on their own, and has made an effort to make it both more affordable and more worthwhile for aspiring business owners.
2. Heather Hasson
Source: www.wearfigs.com
Healther Hasson founded Fashion Inspired Global Sophistication (FIGS) which provides children in Africa and Asia with school uniforms with each item the company sells (similar to TOMS shoes and other nonprofit organizations). Hasson turned her love for fashion into a charity organization, which goes to show there is nothing you can’t do when it comes to combining passion with a business model.
3. Jill Vialet
Source: http://www.playworks.org/
Jill Vialet is the founder of both Playworks and co-founder of the Museum of Children’s Art, both efforts centered around and benefiting children’s education. The reason she is such a sensation in the business world is that her efforts serve as an example of how much your passions can influence the way you impact the world. She has founded multiple organizations based on her passion for education and children, and did not limit herself to only focusing on one effort.
4. Jessica Jackley
Photo credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lucent
Jessica Jackley is one of the founders of Kiva, which is a web site that gives loans to entrepreneurs so they can start their own businesses and pay back what they have borrowed. The unique thing about Kiva is that users donate their own money, twenty five dollars to be exact, to help out strangers. Kiva has loaned over one hundred million dollars to entrepreneurs, and the majority of the money borrowed, about ninety eight percent, is paid back in full. Entrepreneurs all over the world have benefitted from the initiative, and it sheds light on how important it is for entrepreneurs to give back to those who want to change the world.
5. Rose Broome
Rose Broome’s business, HandUp, allows the homeless to get the items they need. This comes from donors, who can give money online or via text message. What is different about this organization is that the receivers of those donations get them in the form of credits, which they can use to put toward necessities. Some people who are homeless do not appreciate being given money directly because they do not want to receive help, but Broome’s business model makes receiving donations more symbolic and emphasizes the effort of the donors, not the amount of cash given.
6. Beth Sirull
Source: https://www.pacificcommunityventures.org/
Something that has always worked well in helping to grow businesses is setting up official or unofficial mentoring partnerships between more experienced entrepreneurs and those who are looking to learn the ropes. Beth Sirull is the founder of Pacific Community Ventures. This is an organization that helps small businesses in low income neighborhoods grow by pairing them with volunteers with larger, already successful companies. These volunteers mentor these newer entrepreneurs and help them to grow their businesses using their own experiences to help guide them along the way. These efforts help to improve the economies of these lower income areas as well as helping the individuals who are advised through the program.
7. Linda Rottenberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Alphtam
Linda Rottenberg is the founder and CEO of Endeavor, which finds, mentors and invests in some of the top aspiring entrepreneurs around the world and helps them turn their business ideas into realities. Endeavor’s resulting successful entrepreneurs have created thousands of new jobs and have made close to six billion dollars altogether. Rottenberg’s efforts have shown the economic value of entrepreneurship and have probably paid a large role in the title of entrepreneur becoming more widely accepted around the world as time has gone on.
8. Rebecca Onie
Courtesy of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Founder of Health Leads, Rebecca Onie has proven you are never too young to enter the business world. She began her company while a sophomore at an Ivy League college and has since introduced tons of volunteers to hospitals to help patients and improve the quality of health care simultaneously. Her efforts show that business can expand upon things people are already expected to do for themselves and aim to make their lives easier, instead of always having to sell a product or promote a service that is focused only on making the company more money.
9. Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is more than just a former TV personality and media guru. She has also given away over forty million dollars to charity, started multiple nonprofit organizations and founded the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Winfrey is proof that you can use your talents, skills and ‘status’ to do good things both within and outside of the business world directly. Her success is also an important reminder to aspiring female entrepreneurs that you do not have to limit yourself to doing only one thing in order to be successful; you can find success in multiple areas.
10. Callie Works-Leary
Source: http://www.callieworksleary.com/
Callie Works-Leary is the founder of CityCraft, a fabric and craft store based in Dallas, Texas. Eventually Leary realized she needed to expand into the online marketplace, not just to sell more merchandise, but to connect with and assist aspiring sewers who also wanted to get into the clothing and craft business. Her success is an example of how it is still possible to start a business with a physical location and expand to online efforts second, instead of sticking to online sales and interaction only.
Women are making a huge difference in business today. They are establishing companies that help entrepreneurs get started and helping people find their purposes in the world. Will you be next?
