Moms Who Make It Work
Many moms have had an entrepreneurial flash as they struggled with a badly designed infant seat or crafted their own new and improved onesie.
While some might share their newfound expertise with close friends and family, more and more are acting on those inspired moments and starting their own business. They’ve even got their own name: mompreneurs.
Moms today make up one of the fastest-growing subsets of entrepreneurs, said David Townsend, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at N.C. State University.
As new moms seek ways to stay home with their kids or supplement their existing income, they’re starting up their own businesses.
“Entrepreneurship has been an interesting way that a lot of women have been able to utilize their skills and abilities and not have to focus on climbing the corporate ladder,” Townsend said. “It’s been one of the fastest growing segments.”
The growth in businesses created by women started about a decade ago, said Gwen Martin, executive director at the Virginia-based Center for Women’s Business Research. Official numbers don’t track mompreneurs, but Martin said more women of child-bearing age are starting businesses than men of the same age.
Many were pushed out of the corporate world because they couldn’t get the flexible hours or were demoted or pushed aside as they handled family responsibilities, Martin said. She expects the trend to continue during the recession.
“I actually think we’re going to start seeing it with men, too,” she said. “We’ve been experiencing for a number of years a big shift in how people do their work. With the economic downtown, it’s just been accentuated. We’re going to definitely see it for women and we’re going to see it a lot for men.”
Photo by ryaninc
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