Women are increasingly a major force in the small business world, but their access to working capital isn’t keeping pace, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
The paper spoke to Carrie Charlick and Marcia Cubitt, who own a company called Essential Body Wear, have $4 million in annual sales and have repeatedly been rejected for $500,000 loans since 2012. Their company works by selling women’s underwear at parties at customers’ homes, so their circumstances are unique – but their difficulty getting business financing as women is not.
Women’s business loan approval rates are lower than men’s, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. There are many reasons for this, one of which is that women-owned businesses tend to be younger, which many lenders see as a significant risk factor. Some industry experts say this could also be due to the fact that women are less likely to be assertive when seeking financing.
Women business owners who are seeking business financing should consider whether they would be best served by banks. In many cases, they simply may not be. When banks are unwilling to loan, women business owners may choose to seek financing from an alternative lender like National Funding. Its standards for lending are different from banks’, which may make a loan more accessible.
