How the Franchise Industry is Making it Easier for Women to Become Business Owners

While women might be the minority when it comes to the franchise industry, there are a number of organizations trying to change those statistics. In 1996, the International Franchise Association formed the Women’s Franchise Committee, which has created programs and resources to strengthen women’s success in the industry. Most recently, franchise consulting firm FranNet has partnered with the Association of Women’s Business Centers to educate more women about the nearly limitless opportunities to open their own businesses.

“There’s long been the perception that franchising is male dominated—and unfortunately, it still is. But we’re starting to see the trend change a bit. More women are considering franchising, they’re breaking through the glass ceiling and they’re increasingly interested in investing in and growing their own business,” said John Blair, Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations at FranNet. “Our goal is to reach as many people as possible to help open their eyes to the opportunity of franchising. Our partnership with Women’s Business Center is a big step forward in that process.”

According to Franchise Direct, only 20.5 percent of franchised businesses are owned by women. While this issue may be due to a need for more education, training and mentoring, one of the main challenges for women starting their own business is access to capital. Antonella Pianalto President and CEO at the Association for Women’s Business Centers explains, “Women tend to start businesses with far less financing than men. Less than 5 percent of conventional business loan dollars go to women and only 7 percent of venture capital goes to women-owned firms.”

Since women tend to lack confidence to ask for more money or a loan, they also often undervalue themselves and look for capital from friends and family credit cards instead. The Association of Women’s Business Centers helps to build up that confidence by bringing in experts in various industries. This is where the FranNet partnership has stepped in to educate women on franchising opportunities and the fact that it has greater financial security, while also offering a community of support within the franchise system.

“Franchising is a very attractive business model for thousands of men and women, but our No. 1 challenge is education. People have a lot of misconceptions about what franchising is and what it isn’t. The more we can get in front of people and explain these misperceptions, the better opportunity those individuals will have in succeeding in franchising,” Blair said. “By partnering with Women’s Business Centers, we hope to provide that much needed education to empower women to get into franchising.”