They've got the power: women entrepreneurs are a powerful economic force, having grown nearly 8 million strong in numbers.

Women entrepreneurs are a powerful economic force, having grown to nearly 8 million strong in number

SEVEN YEARS AGO, BARBARA LANDERS BOWLES said good-bye to corporate America. The former vice president of investor relations at Kraft Foods had been harboring the desire to run an investment firm for years. From her homework, Bowles knew that starting such a venture would be capital-intensive. So, when Kraft was acquired by Philip Morris, she used her employee stock and stock options--over $100,000--to launch the Kenwood Group Inc., a Chicago-based registered investment advisory firm that manages pension, endowment and public funds.

Today, the seven-employee firm invests $200 million under management on behalf of such institutional investors and public funds as US West Inc., Quaker Oats, the city of Atlanta and the Chicago Transit Authority. The Kenwood Group also recently launched a growth and income mutual fund (the initial investment is $2,000).

"As black women continue to grow their businesses and turn profits, the old boy network will stand up and take notice," says the Nashville native, who holds a degree in mathematics from Fisk University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. According to Bowles, to stay competitive, women entrepreneurs will have to continue to satisfy niches that the big boys can't fill, and enter male bastions with the greatest growth potential, such as telecommunications, technology and finance.

Bowles is carrying on a tradition established centuries ago. Black women have always managed businesses. Some did it in the shadows of their more visible fathers, brothers or husbands. Others stepped to the fore when their mates died. Still others started their own enterprises. As far back as the turn of the century, Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker (d/b/a Madame C.J. Walker) transformed herself from a laundress to the first American self-made woman millionaire by marketing her hair straightening products.

It was inevitable that black women would become a force in the business community. After all, their entrepreneurial heritage includes scores of successful soul food kitchens, hairdressing salons and day care services.

In the past decade, armed with corporate experience--and some with an M.B.A. or J.D. to boot--African American women have entered the business arena ready to do battle with their male counterparts and even with the corporate giants where they had once worked. These adventurers are carving out new territory in the marketplace, providing an array of products or services--from computer software to temporary staffing.

Black women have long been community leaders. Now they are moving from being the emotional backbone of the country to becoming a greater economic force. By starting their own companies, black women are reinvesting money back into the African American community by creating jobs, providing much needed services or products and serving as role models of business success.

"We already know that when women thrive, families thrive," says Marilyn French Hubbard, president of the Detroit-based National Association of Black Women Entrepreneurs Inc. (NABWE).

In a society where sexism and racism are prevalent, particularly in business, many black women believe that the only way they will be paid their true worth is by starting their own firms. "Independence, competitive demands and corporate downsizing influence many of us to start our own firms," says Hubbard.

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS 

Today, there are close to 8 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., which generate nearly $2.3 trillion in revenues. By the year 2000, half of all businesses will be owned by women, according to the National Foundation of Women Business Owners (NFWBO) in Silver Spring, Maryland. And African American, Asian and Latino women will make up the largest and fastest growing segment of the workforce.

It comes as no surprise that in this era of downsizing and outsourcing, women entrepreneurs have outpaced the overall growth of businesses by nearly two to one, increasing by 78% between 1987 and 1996, according to NFWBO. Now women own more than one-third of the 21 million firms nationwide. Moreover, the number of women-owned businesses is increasing nationwide, particularly in California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.

"The sheer strength of the numbers reaffirms that women business owners are powerful catalysts for promoting the health of our economy," says Susan Peterson, NFWBO chair and president of a namesake production company in Washington. Total revenues for women-owned businesses have more than tripled over the last nine years, from $681 billion to $2.3 trillion, an increase of 236%. And over 18.5 million people owe their jobs to women business owners, who employ more than 26% of the U.S. workforce (up 183% since 1987). That's more than those employed at all the Fortune 500 companies combined.

Moreover, industry trends show that the most explosive growth for women-owned businesses are in the following industries: construction, up 127%; wholesale trade, 157%; transportation/communications, 140%; agriculture, 130%; and manufacturing, 112%.

"Women are looking for the best return on their investment," explains NFWBO's executive director Sharon Hadary. "This is why we are seeing a lot of growth in nontraditional areas, such as construction and environmental clean-up." Despite this growth, the largest share of women-owned businesses, roughly 51%, continues to be in the service sector.

Unfortunately, statistics specific to black women entrepreneurs are hard to come by. The highly criticized U.S. Census Bureau's 1992 survey reported on minority-owned businesses but did not count C corporations, the fastest growing segment of black business. The survey estimated that firms owned by black women total just 250,000, with only 9% grossing more than $25,000 annually. Both NFWBO's Hadary and NABWE's Hubbard say that the Census numbers are grossly underestimated and that a better assessment of black women entrepreneurs is needed.

The BE INDUSTRIAL/SERVICE 100 boasts three women CEOs. At the top of the list is Loida Nicolas Lewis, chairman and CEO of TLC Beatrice International Holdings Inc. (No. 1 on the list with $2.1 billion in revenues). Since assuming the reins of the global empire built by her late husband, Reginald F. Lewis, Mrs. Lewis has managed to increase profits tenfold. Next is Clara Taylor Reed, CEO of Mid-Delta Home Health Inc. in Belzoni, Mississippi (No. 54 with $34.8 million), which provides home health care, medical equipment and supplies. And third, Valerie Daniels-Carter is CEO of V&J Foods Inc. in Milwaukee (No. 59 with $33 million), which owns 37 Burger King outlets.

The BE AUTO DEALER 100 list boasts two women business chiefs: Barbara J. Wilson, CEO of the Ferndale, Michigan-based Ferndale Honda Inc. (No. 50, with $38.6 million in revenues), and Jacqueline L. Edgar, CEO of the Breaux Bridge, Louisiana-based Jackie Edgar Ford Inc. (No. 78, with $27.8 million in revenues).

Perhaps one of the most noteworthy gains of black women business owners over the last 10 years is mirrored by their growing presence in such rapidly developing, male-dominated industries as engineering and technology. A snapshot of these high-tech mavens: Kathryn C. Turner has led her Rockville, Maryland-based firm, Standard Technology Inc., from $25,000 in revenues in 1986 to more than $17 million today. And Lillian B. Handy started TRESP Associated Inc. from her dining room table in 1981. Initially financed with an American Express card, the Alexandria, Virginia-based information technology firm grossed $20 million last year.

GETTING THEIR PROPS

The lack of precise data on black women business owners is evidence that despite impressive gains, they're still fighting for recognition. "Being taken seriously is still one of the biggest challenges women entrepreneurs face," says Hadary. "Whether they are bankers, vendors or customers, many people continue to question whether a business run by a woman can deliver."

While women continue to battle the perception that they are not viable business owners, statistics prove otherwise. In fact, according to a study by NFWBO and Dun & Bradstreet, women-owned firms are fiscally sound and creditworthy. Yet access to capital continues to be a major barrier for women.

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To compete and survive beyond the year 2000, women are going to have to look to forge strategic alliances, says Hubbard. Indeed, statistics show that companies that form joint ventures are growing much more rapidly than those that do not.

"But we must be clear about what we bring to the table and work collaboratively as a team," she says, adding that this team must include men as well as women." Hubbard further contends that women traditionally have gone out of their way to learn how to deal with men and play by their rules, but that the onus is now increasingly on men to reach out and relate to women.

Of course, none of this prevents African American women entrepreneurs from having to do everything male entrepreneurs need to do to succeed--and then some. To attract a whole new set of customers, they will have to look to expand their products and services, leverage their names to create brands and pursue business opportunities across the globe. Simply put: Black women must continue to demonstrate that they are an economic force to be reckoned with. In doing this, they will help to bring existing barriers--from lack of capital to lack of respect--tumbling down.