First, a big thank you to Gayla McCord at MomGadget for giving me the heads up about this topic. 

Entrepreneur magazine and Women President’s Organization teamed up to create a list of the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned or Women-Led Companies, and the final list of the Fastest 50 appears in the November 2007 issue of Entrepreneur as well as on the Entrepreneur website.

To create the list of the 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned or Women-Led Companies, Entrepreneur and WPO solicited applications from women-led businesses in North America.  Those businesses that met the following criteria were considered for the awards:

• Privately-owned
• Women-owned/led
• Company sales in 2002 must be $50,000 or greater
• 2006 sales must be at least $1 million

It’s amazing to see how much these companies grew in just four years.  The details about the winners can be found after the jump.  Some of the quotes from the winners are very inspirational and motivating. Continue reading »

The Annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business were handed out last night to 43 outstanding women in business.  From corporate executives to start-up entrepreneurs, the Stevie Awards recognize businesswomen and the companies they run around the world.  

A press release went out today citing some of the most notable winners as: Continue reading »

I came across a post on the Bizwomen blog called “Where are Women Most Equal” that discusses a new report from the World Economic Forum called “The Global Gender Gap Report.”   The annual study examined 128 countries using four key areas:  

1. Economic participation and opportunity – salaries, participation levels and access to high-skilled employment
2. Educational attainment – access to basic and higher level education
3. Political empowerment – representation in decision-making structures
4. Health and survival – life expectancy and sex ratio

Some of the results are as you would expect with countries in the Middle East ranking low such as Yemen that ranked at the very bottom of the list followed by Chad, Pakistan, Nepal and Saudi Arabia.  The United States came in 31st having improved in the area of political empowerment over 2006 but getting worse in the area of economic participation.   

Here is the list of the top 11 countries who lead the pack in terms of closing the gender gap: Continue reading »

A recent Wall Street Journal and NBC News poll shows that female executives earning $75,000 per year or more have less favorable feelings toward Hillary Clinton and her presidential run than women earning lower salaries.

In an article published on The Wall Street Journal Online today, Carol Hymowitz notes that while women are getting their fair share of middle-management positions, the numbers nose-dive at the executive level.  Just 16% of senior corporate positions are held by women, and just one-sixth of board seats are held by women.  Those disappointing numbers are similar in the public sector where women hold just 16% of the seats in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives and just 24% of statewide elected officials.  Furthermore, women hold none of the 50 governor positions in the United States.

In her article, Carol Hymowitz compiles a variety of perspectives on Hillary Clinton from several businesswomen.  Following is a recap of those businesswomen’s feelings about Senator Hillary Clinton: Continue reading »

Today, I stumbled upon a great post on the We magazine for women blog that lists 100 grants, loans and scholarships for women.  It’s a fantastic list for female entrepreneurs whether your business is small or large and needs some kind of financial backing or assistance.  The list also includes links related to angel investing, venture capital and other funding resources.

Even if you aren’t looking for a grant, loan or scholarship right now, this is a great list to bookmark for future reference.  Follow the link to see the full list of grants, loans and scholarships for women.

Fortune recently announced their list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, which included 44-year old Kathleen Murphy who graduated from my alma mater, Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut.  Kathleen is ranked 40th on Fortune’s list of powerful businesswomen as the CEO of ING’s Wealth Management division. 

Kathleen earned her bachelor’s degree in economics and political science at Fairfield University in 1984 and then went on to earn her juris doctorate degree with honors from the University of Connecticut.  She went on to work in the law department of Aetna Financial Services (later acquired by ING), which allowed her to gain a solid understanding of the business side of the company.  Just four years ago she moved from the legal side to the business side. Continue reading »

Despite the growing number of women obtaining advanced degrees in business, the gender gap between men and women in executive positions is actually growing according to a study by the London Business School’s Lehman Brothers Center for Women in Business.

The study researched 100 ‘knowledge workers’ in 21 companies across 17 countries and found the following to be true: Continue reading »

Monica Flores of A Successful Woman and SistersInBiz has a book coming out in January 2008 called A Successful Woman’s Handbook: Fifty-one Ways to Build your Community of Clients Online. How Women are Using the Web to Grow their Business, Reach the Right Customers, and Make a Difference (ISBN 1434816273 / EAN13 9781434816276).  The book is targeted to women in business and will provide tips to improve website function as well as a directory of professionals who can help readers get the web work done that requires expert assistance.  Continue reading »

According to a study released in October by the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, women are grossly under-represented in executive positions and board seats.  Of course, this comes as no surprise, but it’s good to see these statistics being officially and publicly released.

UC Davis Graduate School of Management and the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives studied the 400 largest publicly-held corporations in the state of California to compile the third annual “UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders: A Census of Women Directors and Executive Officers.”  While the study was limited to the state of California, I think it’s safe to assume similar results would be found in other states throughout the country. 

Here are some of the key statistics from the report: Continue reading »

Welcome to Women on Business, the newest site for women and by women online.  I hope this site will provide women in business with one-stop-shopping for all the news and information they need to be successful in today’s business world.  Thank you for visiting and enjoy!