| | FEBRUARY 20208EXPERTS TALKThe Game of Truth &Dare behind WomenEntrepreneurship Did you know, if the women en-trepreneurs in US alone started a separate country, the country will rank 5th in GDP? Well, that is an interesting stat and something that can boost morale of business women around the world. Today, there are more women CEOs running Fortune 500 Companies than ever before, but sadly, that figure stands only at 6.4 percent. If women are doing so brilliantly in the business world, then why are we still facing challenges with gender inequality, funding and credibility? This article is a tribute to the women around the world disrupting the status quo with brilliant business models and management skills.The Truth80 percent of the global buying decisions are made by women, but when it comes to venture funding, women are deeply under-repre-sented. The gender gap in the cur-rent startup or leadership scenar-io has seen a slight improvement over the years, but not drastically enough. According to a 2018 re-port of World Economic Forum, at the current rate, it would take 202 years to bridge the economic gen-der parity. With such staggering statistics, the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs and leaders are numerous ­ Investor Bias: A December 2018 Morgan Stanley Survey that included more than 200 investors and lenders found that funders show much lesser interest in busi-ness pitches presented by women entrepreneurs, and if they do, they require it to be of a higher stan-dard when compared to their male counterparts. They think women owned businesses will have lesser market success, whereas research has proved that businesses run by women perform better in the mar-ket. According to the report, only 2.2 percent of the venture funding went to women-run business and when the funding is done, they do it at 20 percent lesser rate than their male counterparts.Gender Bias: A 2017 Harvard Business Review report says that most Venture Capitalists and In-vestors have stereotypical images of women and are often hesitant about their credibility, trustwor-thiness, experience and knowl-edge. The report further states that, women entrepreneurs were given only 25 percent of the ap-plied funding whereas male en-trepreneurs received 52 percent. Moreover, the funding rejection rates for women were higher when compared to their male counterparts. CHALLENGING THE TIDEBy Vidya Ramakrishnan, Head - Marketing Content & Thought Leadership, Aspire SystemsVidya is a marketing and content development professional graced with over 12 years of progressive experience in the field of Marketing, Content Development, Corporate Communications & Client Servicing.THOUGHT LEADERSHIPVidya Ramakrishnan, Head of Marketing Content & Thought Leadership
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