Helping Women Entrepreneurs On Their “Path Forward”

President of the World Bank Group, Robert B. Zoellick, has been quoted as stating: “Whether it is the question of employment, opportunity, pay, or access to finance, there is a tremendous amount of work to do to level the playing field for women.” When reviewing the activities of organizations such as Golden Seeds and Path Forward it becomes clear that women are determined to rise to the challenge of creating that level playing field – more specifically in harnessing the economic power of entrepreneurship, understanding that new businesses result in job creation, tackling the problem of unemployment and strengthening the economy.

In research and statistics gathered by Path Forward and presented on their website, women make up more than 50 percent of the workforce in the United States, as is the case in many other countries. This could be for a number of reasons, including that more women are working to provide a second income in a two-parent family, or are single parents and sole breadwinners. It is also noted that women outstrip men in numbers graduating from college. Nevertheless, many educated and competent women remain unemployed, or underemployed.

With a name that says it all, ACTiVATE® is the program used by Path Forward to assist women to realize their full business potential and become an active part of the economy, particularly relating to innovation-based business. Participants are offered resources and programs, as well as access to tools, support and technologies, not to mention invaluable insight, that comes from gathering with like-minded individuals who have similar goals. The focus of the center is to help women to develop their businesses to become employers, creating job opportunities that impact positively on communities and ultimately the world. They refer to this as Business Beyond One™ – the ‘one’ being the founder of the business.

Former US Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, noted in 2007 that whereas men reinvest around 30 to 40 percent of their income in their families and communities, women reinvest an average of 90 percent of their income in this way. Clearly, having women in the workplace, especially as entrepreneurs and employers, offers huge potential benefits on both Main Street and Wall Street. As a non-profit organization and a center for innovation and entrepreneurship, Path Forward aims to support those who have the initiative to pursue Business Beyond One™