Women entrepreneurs rate flexibility and work-life balance as almost as important as independence when it comes to their reasons for starting a business, according to a survey.
58% of female entrepreneurs said the catalyst for starting their own venture was a desire to be their own boss, only 1% more than those who citied the flexibility it gave them. Work-life balance was also a high priority at 46%.
High-profile female entrepreneurs also inspire women to go it alone. JK Rowling was the most admired, with both Katie Price (aka Jordan) and Victoria Beckham also making an appearance in the top 20.
“If we saw the same level of female start-ups as we do male start-ups the country would benefit from some 150,000 more businesses,” says Karen Gill, co-founder of Everywoman.com, which conducted the survey.
“Furthermore, if this figure matched that of the US, we would be looking at 750,000 more businesses.”
There are one million female owned businesses in the UK contributing 130bn to the UK economy.
