According to the National Foundation of Women Business Owners, women own approximately 8 million businesses in the United States, employ over 18.5 million people and generate $2.3 trillion in sales annually. And, the number of women owned businesses is increasing faster than the overall growth for U.S. businesses in all 50 top metropolitan areas. The Foundation’s study 1996 Facts on Women-Owned Businesses indicates that New York City had the most women-owned businesses with 248,700 of them and Portland and Vancouver followed closely. The study found that San Francisco was representative of the national trend where, “Women-owned businesses increased 61 percent over the past nine years, employment more than tripled and sales increased nearly four-fold. As of 1996, San Francisco’s 80,800 women-owned enterprises employed 217,000 people and generated over $31 billion in sales.” Over all, businesses in the city grew only 39.7 percent during the same time. Carol Pisante, of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce commented, “We have definitely seen an increase in the number of women starting their own businesses. They are a remarkably upbeat, positive group who have very high expectation of their success. A lot of that comes from a climate open to new ideas, new products, new ways of organizing businesses. There is a lot of pioneer spirit out there.”
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