𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧-𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐌𝐄𝐬?


Due to the nature of our work, we meet with a lot of companies; listen to their stories, plans and challenges. Early on, it has become very obvious to us that women underestimate themselves; they shyly mention their achievements and self-doubt is almost always present when talking about their future plans. 

According to a Harvard Study, women scored as well as (and sometimes better) than men in leadership skills such as taking initiative, resilience, integrity and honesty. Ironically, a different analysis of the same data showed that in a self-assessment, women are not very generous to themselves compared to their male peers, which translates to lower scores than men on confidence ratings.

Level of self-confidence is just one aspect where women generally differ from men, but there’s so much more to it. Here are 10 things everyone should now about women-led SMEs:

  1. They are VERY conservative in their financial growth projections. They often under-promise and over-deliver. 

  2. They deliver impact unintentionally; to so many women-led companies, they have been committed to ESG for so many years, not because they are complying to a mandate but only because they have always believed it is the right way to do business. 

  3. The VC model does not really fit most women; as most women are not building companies to sell them. They are also not building companies to grow at all costs. But that does NOT make them mediocre.

  4. What you see is NOT what you get. What you see is only the tip of the iceberg.

  5. They are hungry to learn, to be coached and to grow. Unfortunately, quality acceleration programs to non-tech businesses are very limited.

  6. They are EVERYWHERE and in all sectors, yet it is so hard to find them.  

  7. They support each other.  Whoever spread the rumor that women do not support other women is clueless.  

  8. Their leadership style is leadership with empathy which creates a healthier work culture eventually retaining their employees. 

  9. They do well by doing good; profit and impact are equally important, they wouldn’t compromise one for the other. 

  10. They are capital efficient; they make the best possible use of their financial resources.

    PS 

    We will let you in on a big little secret; When we started Women in Business Arabia 6 years ago, we aimed too low; our target was 100 women. Yes. That was the target; to find one hundred women who are willing to pay it forward and support each other. The closed network was growing at 1,000 members a day, a week into its kick off. Have we aimed too low? Definitely. Did that reflect the effort that we put into this? Definitely not!

    Today, Women in Business Arabia has 45,000 members from Jordan and the region, of which 80% are active on a monthly basis.


    𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐚𝐦 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦

    𝘈𝘮𝘢𝘮 𝘝𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳-𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘑𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘚𝘔𝘌𝘴, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵.