We hear a lot about glass ceilings. And while there’s no doubt there have traditionally been barriers to women getting on in corporate life can the same be said for entrepreneurs? After all, you’re your own bosses.
Anita Roddick and some notable others aside, there’s a perception that women start kitchen table businesses, something to provide an extra income to the family home.
There’s truth in that, no doubt, and many women are inspired to start-up by the lack of an existing product or service while on a career break. But that doesn’t give a full picture. There’s also a breed of women, and it’s a growing one, that are feverishly pursuing expansion and appear oblivious to any apparent shackles on their intent.
Take Carol Savage of Flexecutive. She set the company up in 1998 while pregnant with the fi rst of three boys. Her company, somewhat appropriately, provides a solution for those looking to cut their workload to get a better balance. The perceived niche was for women who had had children. In fact 40% of those on the books are men, looking to jobshare, work shifts, or telework from home.
At the time of starting-up she told the funder she’d been negotiating with she was pregnant. His response: “I think you’ll do it anyway.” He was right. And such stories are legion, so let’s not dwell on combining raising a family with growing a business – the added dimension of dynamism is pretty damn evident.
THE GENDER DIVIDE
What else differentiates female entrepreneurs from male counterparts? “If I were to identify the difference it’s that women’s businesses are value driven,” says Betty Thayer, CEO of online recruitment business Exec- Appointments. “You’ve obviously got to have the fi nancial performance too, but it’s about more than that.”
Certainly Sir Alan Sugar is heavily focused on the fi nancials and associates the word value with shareholder value rather than the more nebulous thread that underpins a business’ product or service, as he explained to delegates at November’s Leaders in London International Leadership Summit. Thayer would no doubt argue this is evidence supporting her view, but male entrepreneurs are often value-driven too, responds Savage: “I think it’s about whether you’re an entrepreneur or a leader of a business.”
Co-founder and CEO of SMS question answering service 82ASK Sarah McVittie suggests women fear failure less. “I think that’s arguably a gender difference as some men would be more scared to fail. It’s a macho thing.” But that’s not the most convincing argument and she concedes most entrepreneurs share that characteristic.
Blooming Marvellous co-founder, Judy Lever, who has been running the maternity and children’s wear retail chain since foundation in 1983 says women share an innate curiousity. “Taking it further from the multi-tasking cliché, women are curious and are survivors in all sorts of ways. We’ll try a new thing if something doesn’t go right one way.” Most men would recognise this extension of McVittie’s view. After all, entrepreneurs wouldn’t be worthy of the name without some of that. “The women I’ve come across are brave and are happy to stand up and be counted,” says Caroline Worboys, the CEO of database marketing company Broadsystem.
She adds that men spend too much time boasting about status – their job title, the car they drive. If you’re a male reader, are you guilty of that? Certainly, our feature on entrepreneurs and their cars garnered a voluminous male response.
Sara Tye, who managed Anita Roddick’s public image for many years, says it comes down to instinct. “It doesn’t doesn’t have to be on a spreadsheet as it’s a sense thing, just knowing what the consumer wants. A chap might do a bit of data research and be frightened to go against the process.”
This was particularly evident at The Body Shop. “I couldn’t believe how Anita drove that business. It’s only when you see her with men that you see how differently she behaved compared to them.
“If they were arguing about something in the boardroom she would leave, go outside onto the street, grab 20 women who’d just been in the shop, bring them into the boardroom and tell them what we’d all been discussing and ask them what they thought. She’d say, ‘could you tell this person from American Express, Jenny from Coca-Cola and all the non-execs here that they’re talking absolute bollocks?’. We’re tenacious.”
Once again, though, isn’t that just entrepreneurial? Does Sir Richard Branson rely on spreadsheets? So there’s only one conclusion then and Tye voices it: All you male entrepreneurs have got feminine characteristics. Controversial? Defi nitely. Accurate? Hard to say.
LONELY AT THE TOP
Ruth Blakemore, CEO of Safe Solutions UK, is no stranger to Branson. She was global marketing director for Virgin Atlantic and then worked on the launches of Eurostar and Virgin Mobile. After a period company doctoring she was offered and bought Safe Solutions – with her ex-husband, a silent partner.
When it comes to running a business she bemoans the loneliness of the role. “I think it doesn’t suit me as a woman to be alone. I’d very much like a partner in the business, and a male.”
It is interesting that few of the women entrepreneurs we spoke to are sole owners. Hard to tell if it’s a trend or just a quirk of the sample. Blooming Marvellous’ Lever has had the same woman business partner for more than 20 years and claims never to have had a cross word. She’s not sure it’s a malefemale thing though. “Working with a partner helps you through the tough times as well as the good. There are some very diffi cult decisions you have to make as an entrepreneur, male or female.”
Marie Eichler, another co-founder, this time of Appointments-Bi Language a multi-lingual support staff provider, believes the stimulation of talking to somebody else is crucial. Amy Farren of MOMA Foods, McVittie and Thayer, who is the “fi nal adjudicator”, are others. Eichler says her business has benefi ted from a male perspective since promoting three men to the board. Maternity wear is defi nitely a women’s focus, yet Lever shares Eichler’s view. “We’ve also got three men on our board,” she says, “including our MD. It does change the gender dynamic, but I think for the better, because you can’t be hermetically sealed in a bubble. There’s always the other half of the equation.”
RAISING FINANCE
When it comes to raising fi nance there is perhaps a difference in treatment. “There are fi gures that state that banks are biased towards men, despite the fact women default less,” says Tye. “It’s very diffi cult to change this culture – the banks were set up by men, for men,” responds Eichler.
The view is debatable. “The Daily Mail cut all of what I’d said because they wanted the slant that as a woman it’s hard to raise money. But my view was it is the stage of development you are at with the business.” Lever says that when she started up banks were very dismissive. “All the feminine wiles we used had no effect. But I think things have changed now.”
And McVittie uses it to her advantage: “As a woman, particularly a young blonde woman, I am often underestimated. They expect nothing, so all you can do is impress. It’s very powerful actually, because if you’re passionate, you know your market and know your business you get heard.” Nothing wrong with using your femininity, appears the consensus, and it’s one of the few things male counterparts can’t do – they do have their masculinity though. So to conclude. What’s the difference between male and female entrepreneurs? Not a lot.
Views within this article were expressed at a lunch sponsored by Haysmacintyre. www.haysmacintyre.com
