South Carolina Ranks Number 4 In Nation In Women-Owned Businesses

October is National Women Small Businesses Month, which means women all over the country are being recognized and many of them are creating a seat at the table on their own. Can you guess which state has earned its fair share of female entrepreneurial bragging rights? Hint: if you’re reading this, you probably live there.

American Express OPEN commissions a report on The State of Women-Owned Businesses in the United States every year. The report zeroes in on the sociodemographic characteristics that influence the overall movement of the women-owned business sector at the national, state and metropolitan levels and by industry.

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Women-owned businesses are defined as businesses that are at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by one or more females.The data they have found over the past eight years proves that women-owned businesses have become economic engines with a powerful opportunity for economic growth throughout the U.S., with South Carolina being one of the outstanding states capitalizing on such opportunities.  

The 2018 report added a comparative analysis with data from 1972, the first year the U.S. Census Bureau provided data on minority- and women-owned businesses. Some conclusions made from this research include that numbers of women-owned businesses increased 31 times between that year and now, rising from 402,000 (4.6% of all firms) to 12.3 million (40% of all firms). Employment surged from 230,000 to 9.2 million. Revenues rose from $8.1 billion to $1.8 trillion

As of January 2017, the report estimates 11.6 million businesses owned by women in the U.S., employing more than 111,000 people and bringing in more than approximately $1.6 million in sales. With the number of businesses owned by women in South Carolina more than doubling in the past two decades, it’s not surprising that we hit a few benchmarks throughout the report. South Carolina tied with Tennessee for 4th for states with the fastest growth rate in terms of the number of women-owned firms between 2007 and 2018.

South Carolina has 167,000 women-owned businesses. The businesses have created employment opportunities for 113,000 and attributing to roughly $16,181,800,000. South Carolina is ranked fifth in growth of the number of women-owned firms since 2007. According to the findings, this encompasses a 67.9 percent increase, 28th in the growth of jobs created with a 12.6 percent increase and 45th in growth of firm revenues with a 14.4 percent increase.

Due to the growth among female business owners, South Carolina in particular, the gap between the two sexes is getting closer and closer to becoming nonexistent. According to census data, women are far outpacing men with female entrepreneurship skyrocketing 32.5 percent while male ownership grew by less than two percent.

According to a Greenville WYFF News 4 investigation, more than half of female business owners work 20 hours or fewer at their business. It also found that a majority of female business owners have a different primary source of income.

The women of the Palmetto State have made leaps and bounds over the last ten years in reaching entrepreneurial goals with business ownership and expansion. With the fourth-highest growth rate for women-owned businesses over the past 20 years, a 156 percent increase, it appears these numbers will only continue to grow.

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