Celebrating American Business Women

American Business Women’s Day is a national holiday recognized on September 22, which marks the 1949 founding date of the American Business Women’s Association.

Tropical Foods is proud to be part of the global network of women-owned businesses. Below are some fun facts about women-owned businesses and women in business:

As of 2019, it’s estimated that there are now 13 million women-owned businesses in the United States, employing nearly 9.4 million people and generating over $1.9 trillion in revenues.

Women are now the majority owners of 42% of U.S. businesses.

Women-owned businesses employ 40% more people than the three largest employers — McDonald’s, Amazon and Wal-Mart — combined.

Between 2014 and 2019, the number of women-owned firms increased by 21%, compared to just a 9% increase among all businesses.

In 1965, just 1.2% of graduates from the class of 1965 at Harvard Business School were women. In 2022, that number will reach 44%.

In 1972, 4.6% of all businesses were women-owned. By 2019, 42% of all U.S. businesses were women-owned.

The greatest growth in the number of women-owned firms has been seen in the West. 6 of the 10 fastest growing states for women-owned business are located in the West.

The 10 states home to the greatest number of women-owned firms are: California, Florida, New York, Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey and North Carolina.

Women-owned businesses are growing more than double the national average.

Women entrepreneurs in the United States rank their happiness at nearly three times that of women who are not entrepreneurs or established business owners.

The list of richest women entrepreneurs in the U.S. includes Diane Hendricks, owner and chairman of ABC Supply, a wholesale distributor of roofing, window, and siding materials in Beloit, Wisconsin; Judy Faulkner, founder of medical-record software supplier Epic; Marian Ilitch, co-founder of Little Caesars Pizza and owner of the Detroit Redwings; Doris Fisher, co-founder of Gap; Peggy Cherng, co-founder of Panda Express; and Oprah Winfrey, media powerhouse.

Research conducted by Walmart “found 90 percent of female customers in the US would go out of their way to purchase products from women, believing they would offer higher quality.”