Why Is It Important To Support Small (and Women-Owned) Businesses?
Covid- 19 is impacting every single person, worldwide. Businesses are already heavily impacted, especially small and women-owned businesses.
Education, recruitment, health and well being, and customer service are all sectors dominated by female entrepreneurship. Sadly, these are sectors heavily impacted by this crisis, and these are the first industries to see a downturn.
As you know, women face a lot of different challenges that are unique to being a woman... things like being taken seriously in business, dealing with misogyny and discrimination, and even when it comes to funding we know that women’s businesses and women owners are funded less than men.
This is why it's so important, especially during these trying times, to support women-owned businesses and struggles. When you support small (and women-owned) businesses, you are investing in women's economic empowerment, gender parity in commerce, vibrant communities, and the growth of the economy overall.
It has taken years of progress for women to get to this stage. It would be a real shame to see all of those efforts go to waste. If we don’t help small (and women-owned) businesses survive during this crisis and thrive afterwards, this will have a hugely negative impact on moving forward with this trend and reduce equality.
So how can 'we' help shift the balance and close this visibility gap? There are several ways of supporting women entrepreneurship during Covid-19.
1. Essential Parts Of Local Economies
Small and medium enterprises are a key driver of economic growth, creating four out of five new, formal jobs in emerging markets. Women own or operate over one third of SMEs in emerging markets. In Africa alone, IFC estimates there’s a $49 billion credit demand gap for women-owned SMEs and that more than half of women-owned small businesses are partially or fully constrained financially. Research shows that where women-owned businesses thrive, the community wins.
2. Shop Brands Run By Women
Make an effort to purchase products or services from women-led businesses. This is the best way to show your support. Purchasing products and services from these companies does more than just contribute to their cash flow. It also validates their purpose and helps ensure their long-term success.
3. Partner With A Female-owned Business
Take your relationship with a female-owned business to the next level. Reach out to a female entrepreneur to see how you might mutually benefit from each other’s business—be it cross-customer exposure, product distribution, etc.
4. Engage With Female-owned Businesses On Social Media
Don’t just follow your favoUrite lady-brands on Facebook or like their Instagram posts — share what you love about them with your own online network. By posting about one business each week, you can showcase 52 different women-led companies over the course of a year! Extend your reach by using hashtags like #WomenInBusiness, #BuyWomenOwned and #WomenSupportingWomen . Take it further by tagging any lady-boss shoutouts on your posts. Spreading the word through social networks could encourage others to do the same.
5. Send A Personal Note To A Female Entrepreneur
Let the female entrepreneur in your life know how much you admire and appreciate her hard work. Helping brighten their day may be the push they need to tackle their next business problem.
6. Hire Female Professionals
If you’re in a position to make hiring decisions, try to make the extra effort to hire women in your workplace. Sometimes, just getting the foot in the door is all a woman needs to foster the entrepreneurial spirit.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to support women-led businesses. Your support for Women Owned businesses is an investment into a future of economic success, innovation, and equality. As South African's, let us support women owned-businesses and the companies that source from them. Together we can give small and women-owned business in our country a fair chance to make a living and pull themselves and their communities out of poverty.
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