They can outperform boys in school, will probably live longer than their male counterparts and, according to the Financial Times, are forecast to outnumber men as millionaires by 2020 in the UK So, why are there still so few women entrepreneurs around the world?
Oh, there are a handful: Marrisa Mayer, president and CEO of Yahoo. Lynn Good, CEO of Duke Energy, and Mary Barra, CEO of GM, to name a few. Yet, it appears these notable women are still the exception rather than the rule.
Still, one woman is betting that America is on the cusp of change, at the same time acknowledging that, “while the Mad Men days may be over, we’re also not quite there yet.”
Erica Solis, co-founder of MovoCash (www.movocash.com), a mobile payments technology company, believes that women are being empowered more than ever to be successful in business.
“As a young female entrepreneur, this is a tremendous advantage as the world shifts its mindset to how they view women in the workplace,” says Solis.
Solis, a millennial, whose first job out of college was for a startup company that is now publicly traded and has over 200 employees, should know. Her father has been in the fin-tech (financial-technology) field for the last 15 years, and she has seen first-hand the amount of hard work, agility and confidence it takes to be an entrepreneur. This experience made the decision to go work for her father, Eric Solis, an easy one.
Together, the father-daughter team created MovoCash, a payment platform that allows consumers to link their bank accounts to their MovoCash account for mobile payments with no limitation on the number of supported banks. Unlike Apple Pay or PayPal, MovoCash eliminates the direct link required by conventional near-field communication (NFC), which has been lauded for its security and convenience, but is being criticized by both analysts and merchants, who say that consumers are not yet comfortable paying with their phone, and that the NFC technology is more expensive to implement than traditional card systems.
“I think the environment for women is exciting,” says Laurie Itkin, financial advisor and author of the book “Every Woman Should Know Her Options.” “Starting your own business gives a woman the opportunity to be a leader, an opportunity that she might not have in a corporation.”
Solis agrees.
“I feel very fortunate to be in a country that encourages women to take risks, and be innovative and bold. This is a major advantage every American female entrepreneur has today,” says Solis.