“The great news is that we’re absolutely seeing the number of female entrepreneurs skyrocket in the last year.” – Leesa Mitchell, author of the Kauffman study, Overcoming The Gender Gap: Women Entrepreneurs As Economic Drivers.
How many women entrepreneurs have there been in the history of the business world? Thousands and thousands of them; these are women who invested money and time to make money. Some failed, some succeeded. With so many candidates to choose from, it was tough narrowing it down to only 10 successful women entrepreneurs. However, we have put together young as well as veteran entrepreneurs who have made it big in the business world.
Top 10 Young Women Entrepreneurs and their Rising Companies
- Alexa von Tobel – The founder of LearnVest, focusing on helping women manage their personal finances to pursue their dreams. As of today, the firm has helped over millions of women get a grip on their finances.
- Sarah Prevette – Owner of an online community called Sprouter. She started this website to bring together entrepreneurs from across the globe to socialize and share their ideas and expertise. Her business is backed by angel investors.
- Lauren Bush — She is the co-founder of Feed, along with Ellen Gustafson. Her company manufactures and sells reusable bags that resemble feed bags. When you buy a bag, half the amount goes to the United Nations World Food Program to help feed the underprivileged. The online store also sells various items such as t-shirts, backpacks and bracelets.
- Kyle Smitley – Founded Barley & Birch, an organic clothing company for kids. Today, it is popular among those who prefer organic and eco-friendly products.
- Alexa Hirschfeld – Founded Paperless Post, sending stationary over the internet, along with her brother in 2009. Easily send wedding invites or thank you cards within seconds.
- Jill Donenfeld – Founded a healthy home chef service known as Dish’s Dish, later the name was changed to The Culinistas. Her business focuses on making customizable and healthy home cooked meals, where you can choose from a series of meals that is prepared by a trained chef. In fact, her aim is to get those people who have no time to cook at home to eat healthier meals.
- Rachel Hollis – She started her event management firm called Chic Events in her basement in 2004. Today, her four member team focuses on high end events such movie premiers, destination weddings and dinner/lunch parties.
- Jennifer Hyman & Jenny Fleiss – The two young women started Rent the Runway, a firm that rents designer dresses and accessories. The firm has over 500,000 members in their members’ only platform.
- Danielle Snyder & Jodie Snyder – Dannijo is a jewelry shop started by the Synder sisters in 2008. Their fashion jewelries are worn by celebrities such as Beyonce.
- Prerna Gupta – Launched Khu.sh in 2009. Her firm develops iPhone music Apps. Today, it is one of the top 20 paid apps.
Top 10 Successful Women in Business
- Cher Wang – She is considered to be one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in the world. She owns HTC Smartphones. She has an estimated worth of $6.8 billion.
- Indra Nooyi – She is the Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, one of the largest food and drink companies in the world.
- Melinda Gates – Along with her husband Bill Gates, she founded a charitable organization known as Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- Sheryl Sandberg – She is the chief operating officer of the popular social channel, Facebook. It was her sheer planning and implementation of the business strategy that helped monetize Facebook. Today, the company is valued near $100 billion.
- Vicky Thompson – She is the President and CEO of Valuation Management Group which was founded in 200. In 2011, her firm was recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle for a Pacemaker Award.
- Lisa Hufford – Founder and President of Simplicity Consulting. Her firm helps businesses develop customized marketing strategies.
- Anne Bahr – She is the CEO of PetRays. Her firm works along with some of the best veterinary doctors to improve the health care of animals.
- Shazi Visram – HappyBaby was her dream project that she founded. This company manufactures nutritious organic food and snacks for babies and children.
- Veronica Edwards – She is the president of a health care solutions company named InGenesis Diversified Healthcare Solutions. Her company staffs medical professionals including doctors, dentists, therapists, nurses and social workers.
- Lisa Hogan – She is the owner of Glevum Associates. The firm conducts social research and surveys in various parts of the world. They have offices in Kabul and Baghdad.
All the women listed are successful business entrepreneurs in their own field. They have overcome the odds of failures to reach their ultimate destination. We hope that their success would be an inspiration to other women who wish to start their own ventures.
Flickr image by FunnyBiz
