Female entrepreneurship, a movement that continues to grow
The women’s entrepreneurship movement has been booming for the past ten years. However, in the coming months we will come to the end of an Entrepreneurship 2020 action plan set up by the European Economic and Social Committee, whose mission was to provide entrepreneurs, and more particularly women entrepreneurs, with the tools necessary to creation and sustainability of their business. ***Taking stock, what obstacles still need to be overcome to continue to democratize women’s entrepreneurship? ***
And who better than 3 women entrepreneurs , working in three different fields, to give us their perspective on this social issue? Indeed, ESCadrille had the immense honor of working in collaboration with three actresses of French female entrepreneurship.
Carole-Anne ROLAND , at the origin of the Les Toulousaines Audacieuses network and Véronique JAN , Toulouse entrepreneur, creator of Bigoud’OC, client of ESCadrille Junior Conseil, whose testimonies are at the heart of our written article.
Growing female entrepreneurship
Even today, barely 30% of entrepreneurial projects are carried out by women. Even if this figure testifies to a possible margin of evolution that is still very significant, it is all the same the symbol of a clear improvement of the conditions around the accompaniment of women entrepreneurs. Between 2012 and 2015, the number of women embarking on entrepreneurship doubled , largely thanks to the evolution of mentalities and the development of networks of entrepreneurs like that of Carole-Anne Roland .
Women entrepreneurs are today at the origin of 40% of micro-enterprises , particularly present in sectors such as business consulting, service to individuals and the fields of education-health-social action. They would also have results 9% higher than those of men for companies of the same size in these sectors.
According to a report on women’s entrepreneurship published by the economic, social and environmental council, women prefer individual status for the creation of businesses when men generally choose to create a company. Thus, if we dwell on the figures for job creation in the field of female entrepreneurship, it remains significantly lower than those of projects led by men. For various reasons, it would seem that women are more inclined to work alone. This is the case of Véronique JAN who, after having had a first entrepreneurial experience with employees, decided to work as a self-employed entrepreneur for her new Bigoud’OC project. Wishing to work alone in greater autonomy, she nevertheless called on ESCadrille to support her in her project with a communication plan prepared to measure in order to meet all of her expectations.
However, the number of jobs generated by female entrepreneurship is constantly increasing and is experiencing growth that seems very encouraging for the years to come.
However, difficulties continue to hamper the development of female entrepreneurship
Public institutions, and more particularly the regions, have tried to set up aid plans to facilitate the support of women who wish to embark on the adventure of entrepreneurship. This is particularly the case of the Region of Occitanie , which signed a partnership with Caisse des Dépôts to finance an action plan for female entrepreneurship in 2014. Indeed, the region, which is experiencing very significant dynamism on the entrepreneurial plan, in particular thanks to the city of Toulouse, had to be a pioneer in supporting women entrepreneurs. However, there are still obstacles that hinder the development of female entrepreneurship.
In addition to fears about remuneration , support and the ability to put on the different hats of the entrepreneur , women entrepreneurs are experiencing additional difficulties with their financing . The credit rejection rate for projects led by female designers is 4.3% , or 2% more than their male counterparts.
This rate of rejections is all the more incoherent as in general the initial budget of the projects carried out by female entrepreneurs is lower than that of their male counterparts.
Among the fears, we also find the lack of support. The youth of this movement makes it more difficult to take a step back from the life of an entrepreneur and, consequently, advice on getting started is less frequent. How then can we let ourselves be guided by external advice when it is already difficult to make personal decisions for “our product, our baby”?
New solutions put in place to support female entrepreneurship
To help women embark on entrepreneurship, nothing is less essential than support. There are different possibilities for this. First of all, the accompaniment by relatives, sometimes complicated, is the first engine of a project. As Carole Anne Roland explains, it is more difficult to plan for an entrepreneurial project than for a more traditional job: “My entourage supported me in this project, but I could see that they did not really understand my choice and were skeptical about the success of such a project. “. It is also important to “create[er] a network around [oneself]” tells us Véronique JAN . Networking is one of the foundations for facilitating women’s access to entrepreneurship. This is why networks like Les Toulousaines Audacieuses have been created. They allow you to meet and exchange with other people in the same situation. Meetings that can take different forms and that are intended to be friendly and very rewarding .
Finally, it is also possible to appeal to professional organizations to be guided and sometimes relieved of one of the many areas of skills that entrepreneurship requires.
This is the case of Véronique JAN who called on ESCadrille in 2019 to develop a communication plan, in order to improve the visibility of her company and its products.
These services are increasingly in demand today with the development of Webmarketing, which is pushing entrepreneurs to reinvent themselves and adapt their projects to digital issues. See our digital transformation solutions.
ESCadrille, engine of female entrepreneurship
ESCadrille, with its 41 years of existence, has gradually established itself as the Junior-Enterprise of entrepreneurs by winning 5 times the prize for Best Support for entrepreneurs but also by carrying out on average more than 35% of its studies with them every year.
Indeed, she accompanies clients on a daily basis from the outline of their project to its creation, through the development of companies already launched. For this, ESCadrille offers a personalized experience to each of its customers based on various types of services in different areas of expertise while respecting the constraints and particularities involved in such projects.
However, ESCadrille is also a large family which today brings together more than 500 alumni . Among them, women have now become full-fledged entrepreneurs, inspired by their experience within the Junior-Enterprise and more particularly by their work with our entrepreneur clients. They then decided in turn to embark on the adventure of entrepreneurship. Thus, today there are several innovative projects on the initiative of former members of ESCadrille. Among them, Camille Le Gal , who launched herself into entrepreneurship by becoming co-founder of Fairly Made, “an eco-responsible sourcing and tailoring company in the fashion industry” but also Nevyana Delhomme who develops today his passion for entrepreneurship within the school 42 in Paris, a school which operates around an innovative pedagogy, without courses and without teachers , and which is based solely on project-based learning .
Thus entrepreneurship is at the heart of ESCadrille’s DNA , which is why we do everything we can on a daily basis to continue to develop and improve our support for entrepreneurs.
For more information: our services.
THE FULL INTERVIEW of Carole-Anne Roland
What is the origin of your commitment to women’s entrepreneurship, in particular what motivated you to create “Les toulousaines audacieuses”?
When I created my own business, I didn’t know any other entrepreneur. My entourage supported me in this project, but I could see that they did not really understand my choice and were skeptical about the success of such a project. So I didn’t dare talk to them about my doubts, my apprehensions, my questions, so as not to stir up their incomprehension.
One day I stumbled upon a women’s networking event on Facebook. I signed up and met 2 entrepreneurs who became partners but also friends. I immediately understood the importance of networking when one is an entrepreneur.
Regarding the question of exclusively female networks, it is true that I felt more at ease in this type of network. I found a really benevolent atmosphere there, where we don’t just talk about business, but also about our daily problems which are often numerous because the boundary between professional life and personal life is often very thin when you are an entrepreneur.
I therefore attended events organized by several networks, but in the end, I did not find myself 100% in any network: I wanted to be able to join a network to regularly find the same entrepreneurs, without having a weekly attendance requirement (as is the case in some networks). I also noticed that the entrepreneurs I met had training needs on certain topics; I therefore decided to implement all my ideas in response to the issues expressed by the entrepreneurs I met, by creating my own network dedicated to women entrepreneurs a year ago.
In concrete terms, what is this network of “bold women from Toulouse”?
“Les toulousaines audacieuses” is therefore a network dedicated to women entrepreneurs or those having a business creation project.
We organize a networking afterwork every month, always in the same format: a 45-minute workshop led by one of our members in her area of expertise (for example, for the next afterwork, a payroll consultant will lead a workshop on ‘URSAFF), then a moment of networking around an aperitif.
These afterworks are open to our members and non-members: everyone can choose to join our network or not.
Today we have 35 members. Members are entitled to additional benefits, such as discounts on our events, access to our private Facebook group to discuss, their profile page on our website, and access to one lunch and one dinner per month only between members.
Beyond these networking events, we also organize workshops each month, with the aim of progressing on certain themes (for example: managing a professional Instagram account, creating your website, etc.).
The goal of the audacious Toulouse women is really to help women entrepreneurs progress in their activity, whether through networking to meet other entrepreneurs, and through workshops and training to build skills on the aspects that they do not not master.
We also have other projects that should see the light of day in 2020, in particular the creation of a place dedicated to female entrepreneurship… business to follow?
What do you think are the difficulties/fears that hinder women from embarking on entrepreneurship today?
I think that the main fear for any entrepreneur is that of remuneration: will we succeed in living financially from our project? What if it didn’t work? Entrepreneurship is risk taking and failure is generally frowned upon in France, which already represents an obstacle.
Unfortunately, women are also given less credibility than men (particularly financial partners). It is a reality, and inevitably, women generally find themselves struck by the syndrome of the impostor, this famous feeling of not being legitimate in what one does.
There are also fears related to family life: when you embark on an entrepreneurial project, you know that it will require many hours of work, which will often involve working evenings, weekends… which generally hinders mothers (sometimes only because of social pressure).
Finally, for those who plan to have children, there is a fear around maternity leave for entrepreneurs (especially for self-employed women, whose calculation method is not easy to understand!)
Do you have any advice for future entrepreneurs who are reluctant to start?
We tend to think that an entrepreneur, especially a self-employed entrepreneur who works at home, can organize himself as he wishes, works less than an employee, etc. However, as I mentioned earlier, when we look at the question, we quickly realize that it is quite the opposite! Admittedly, we are free to organize our working hours, however the number of hours worked is generally much more substantial than in a salaried job: Carrying out an entrepreneurial project requires a lot of investment in time and energy before be profitable, knowing that afterwards we don’t have paid holidays, for example: we must therefore anticipate this in terms of income. You must therefore be aware of the workload before starting, and know how to organize yourself well because you can quickly tend to work too much, to the detriment of your personal life. You have to know how to impose real breaks and real weekend offs!
In fact, even if anyone can become an entrepreneur, I think that certain qualities are essential: patience, perseverance, and organization in particular. You have to be ready to persevere, not to be discouraged at the slightest obstacle!
Another piece of advice: do not hesitate to find out about all the possibilities of financial aid. Indeed, entrepreneurs rarely know that they can claim the activity bonus, for example, in the same way as employees.
Then, I absolutely advise to surround yourself with other entrepreneurs. To share your problems, challenge your ideas, get an opinion from people who already have experience in entrepreneurship… it’s very important, even before launching your activity! There are a multitude of networks of entrepreneurs in Toulouse that will allow you to meet other entrepreneurs.
Finally, when you feel that your idea is the right one and you have all the cards in hand to get started in entrepreneurship: don’t wait, get started!
What about your personal experience in entrepreneurship?
After looking for my path for a long time (I have followed several different study paths, and I have had several different professional experiences as well), I launched into entrepreneurship a little over 2 years ago: I I first created an online women’s ready-to-wear store. I loved the richness of this experience: I created the website myself, I managed supplies, communication, shipments, photo shoots, etc… I needed a professional activity in which I doesn’t bore me and which allows me to be in constant learning, and I haven’t regretted it! I trained a lot for a year, especially on the digital marketing part.
By meeting other entrepreneurs, I realized that this was an aspect that entrepreneurs did not master and that there was a real need for support – moreover, I was quickly asked for the type of performance when it was not my core business. Indeed, in 2019, whether you are a dietician, cheese maker, wedding planner, or any other profession: taking care of your presence on the Internet and on social networks is essential! And, inevitably, individual entrepreneurs do not necessarily have the same budgets as companies to delegate this part.
In short, one thing leading to another, I started to support and train entrepreneurs, and I discovered a passion for it: guiding, transmitting, supporting, that’s what I love to do! Especially when the goal is to help entrepreneurs make their business a hit!
For the past year, I have therefore been a trainer in digital marketing, and I also offer individual support, exclusively to an audience of entrepreneurs.
What do you like most about this experience? And what do you like least?
What I like the most is the fact of constantly meeting new passionate entrepreneurs. I meet people that I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to meet otherwise! And then there is always a certain benevolence and great support between entrepreneurs, it’s really great.
I also love the richness and plurality of what we do in our daily lives as entrepreneurs. We must be multi-hatted: manager, salesperson, community manager, photographer, etc… all this in addition to our core business. So it requires constant self-training, and that’s really something I love!
Finally, being able to organize your schedule as you wish is a comfort that is priceless!
What I like least… is the stress, at the beginning of certain months, of not having precise visibility on the income that I will generate. The discomfort of knowing that if you want to take a vacation, I won’t have a fixed salary at the end of the month… This can quickly become a source of anxiety, so you have to be sure to always anticipate contracts. But I take up the challenge with pleasure, because I wouldn’t trade my life as an entrepreneur for anything in the world!