We believe that women-owned businesses matter.
Supporting women’s businesses helps the economy as a whole, and drives growth in local communities. Dollars spent at women-owned businesses are more likely to stay local.
Based on a 2015 survey by Godaddy and Redshift Research, fifty-nine percent of small businesses don’t have a web presence and a way to be found online by potential customers. Shop Women Owned helps increase revenues for women owned businesses by bringing customers to their doors and creating awareness of why women owned businesses matter.
When it launched in May 2016, as part of Go Code Colorado, a startup business and app development competition put on by the Colorado Secretary of State’s office, Shop Women Owned included more than 126,000 Colorado women-owned businesses. Included on a the map are retail businesses, yes, but also restaurants, tech companies, service-based businesses in a variety of industries – everything from salons to construction – to preschools, medical practices, and more. You’ll find small home-based businesses and large, multi-million dollar companies on Shop Women Owned, and we encourage you to “shop” them all.
Our data isn’t perfect, but comprehensive data on women-owned businesses in Colorado does not exist – yet. One of the missions of Shop Women Owned is to create a grassroots campaign that encourages the public to help verify businesses owned by women.
The value of women-owned businesses.
Women-owned firms have an economic impact of $3 trillion annually that translates into the creation and/or maintenance of more than 23 million jobs – 16 percent of all U.S. jobs! These jobs not only sustain the individual worker, but contribute to the economic security of their families, the economic vitality of their communities and the nation.
Women are more likely to set up enterprises that support social change. They are more likely to align business pursuits with their values and are more likely to give back through philanthropy.