Women’s Entrepreneurship Day

History of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day

Wendy Diamond, a social entrepreneur and humanitarian, volunteered with the Adelante Foundation that provides microcredit to locally impoverished women in Honduras. This inspired her to start a movement that empowers women and alleviates poverty, thus creating the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Organization (WEDO) in 2013 as a non-governmental, non-racial, non-gender, and non-political volunteer non-profit organization. She established WEDO to bring light to the plight of 250 million girls living in poverty worldwide and deserve a chance. It also seemed to empower 4 billion women living in this world. In 2014, the organization held its inaugural women’s entrepreneurship day in New York City at the United Nations.

WEDO empowers women and girls to become active participants in the economy by creating a network of women leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs to initiate startups, drive economic expansion, and enhance communities. It also builds a community of like-minded individuals that women leaders can benefit from to make a real impact in this world.

New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio, Philadelphia Mayor, Jim Kenney, and Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti, proclaimed November 19 an official day for women entrepreneurship. The United Nations also celebrates the day annually. Additionally, the U.S. House of Representatives recognizes the WEDO movement as “A Day in Honor of Women Entrepreneurs” under the leadership of Congresswoman Grace Meng. Women Entrepreneurship Day needs more support worldwide because if women receive fair and equal opportunities, they can make a greater impact in their country, boost the economy, and inspire others. And now, with a multitude of scholarships geared specifically towards women, women have even more opportunities to do so.

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day timeline

2013

WED’s Inspiration

WED’s founder gets inspired to launch WEDO after volunteering in Honduras with the Adelante Foundation.

2014

Women Wednesday

Women Entrepreneurship Day launches the Women Wednesday social media event held on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving.

2018

Microloans for Impoverished Women

WED donates 1,000 microloans to impoverished women to empower them economically and help them start their businesses.

2019

#ChooseWOMEN Initiative

Women Entrepreneurship Day launches the initiative to inspire women and men to pledge their support to #ChooseWOMEN in business, politics, finance, art, etc.

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day FAQs

When is Women’s Entrepreneurship Day?

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day 2026 falls on Thursday, November 19. This global day recognizes and celebrates the achievements of female entrepreneurs.

How many women-owned businesses are there?

In the U.S., women-owned businesses represent approximately 42% of all businesses, employing 9.4 million people and generating $1.9 trillion in revenue. This number continues to grow steadily.

What percentage of startups are founded by women?

While women-owned businesses are prevalent, only about 20% of startups globally have at least one female founder. This highlights a persistent gap in early-stage entrepreneurial ventures.

Why is Women’s Entrepreneurship Day celebrated?

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day is celebrated to empower, support, and celebrate women entrepreneurs worldwide. It aims to raise awareness of the challenges women face in business and advocate for their advancement.

How To Observe Women’s Entrepreneurship Day

Promote a female entrepreneur’s business

Do you have a female entrepreneur in your friend circle or family? Use social media to promote their business. Help them grow, especially if it is a small business. Speak about the entrepreneur’s achievements and inspire others.

Support a small business owned by a woman

The next time you need to purchase an item, check whether a small woman-owned business sells it. You will be contributing your bit to the success of a woman entrepreneur. If women don’t become other women’s cheerleaders, who will?

Read a book on entrepreneurship

Read a book on entrepreneurship. It will give you an insight into how challenging it is to build a successful empire. On top of that, women have to face many more challenges. This will help you appreciate women entrepreneurs even more.

5 Important Facts About Women Entrepreneurs

The study of conflict resolution

Women have founded leading companies like SlideShare, Cisco, Flickr, and The Body Shop.

Reason for women entrepreneurship

Women have often stated flexibility around family care as the primary reason to start a business.

Undercapitalized

Women often end up starting a business with lower funds than required owing to various factors.

Expression of patterns

Women own 36% of small businesses across the globe.

Panama and women

Panama has the most number of female entrepreneurs at 29.1%.

Why Women’s Entrepreneurship Day Is Important

Economic growth and stability

A country’s workforce supports its growth, and women entrepreneurs have a role to play in it. When women entrepreneurs start a business, it invariably motivates other women to follow in their footsteps. The creation of more business means more jobs and also bridging the gender gap.

Alleviates poverty

When more women are in the workforce starting businesses and creating jobs, it helps to alleviate poverty. Even a small business with a handful of employees is helping someone earn their bread and butter and live a stable life.

Breaks gender stereotypes

Women Entrepreneurship Day directly empowers women by letting them know their work is valued and appreciated. Sometimes it just takes simple acknowledgment to motivate people. This day sets the tone that women can equally contribute to the growth of a country and breaks gender stereotypes.

Women’s Entrepreneurship Day dates