By Alex Hemmer
BU News Service
BOSTON — In a city known for its budding entrepreneurship scene, many women are making their mark as local business owners. According to data provided in October by the government organization Women Entrepreneurs Boston, also known as WE BOS, at least 30 businesses in the Boston area publically identify as women-owned.
Driven to help “everyone, from startups to home-based businesses to established brick-and-mortar mainstays,” WE BOS’s report reflects this diversity in entrepreneurs.
Businesses included on the list represent a wide variety of industries, ranging from food and beverage services to professional consulting. Though 23 have registered local addresses, seven appear to be largely online-run entities.
Spark FM Online, a radio station set to launch in April, is one of a handful on the list to reflect entrepreneurship in the digital age, providing little contact information beyond a URL.
At the same time, it is also one of 14 businesses on the list to identify as minority-owned, marketing its online station as the “number-one for Urban and Caribbean music.”
The city’s efforts to empower women to start businesses may serve as a positive response to a recent study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, which reported that equal participation in entrepreneurship by men and women could bring the global GDP up by 3-6%.
Though WE BOS’s report lists no more than 30 businesses, it may be worth emphasizing that the data only accounts for those that have been publically identified as women-owned.
As local organizations like WE BOS continue to invest in women entrepreneurs, it is possible that more businesses will join the list in 2020.
