ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602090024
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: G4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: SHELIA M. POOLE COX NEWS SERVICE
It's becoming a little less of a man's world - particularly in business.
Ask Amy Bolton-Curley, who owns an Atlanta media consulting and video production company.
``Women are finally taking their dreams and turning them into reality,'' said Bolton-Curley, who started her business five years ago with $900. ``They are becoming fed up with the mainstream and are more apt to take the challenge.''
The numbers bear her out, according to a study of women-owned businesses released recently by the Census Bureau.
The study showed that in 1992, the most recent year for which figures are available, women owned 6.4 million businesses - about one-third of the nation's firms. Those women-owned businesses had total revenue of $1.6 trillion and employed 13.2 million people.
For the first time, the report includes ``C'' corporations, so called because of their tax designation. They tend to be larger, with more employees and greater revenue than proprietorships and partnerships. Because ``C'' corporations haven't been included in the report before, there's no way to exactly compare the numbers with previous years.
However, without ``C'' corporations included, the number of women-owned businesses rose to 5.8 million in 1992 from 4.1 million in 1987 - a 41 percent increase. Revenue increased to $642 million, from $278 million.
In Georgia, the number of women-owned businesses rose 62.5 percent. There were 143,045 companies - or 33.6 percent of all businesses in the state - owned by women in 1992. Revenue totaled $22.5 million, compared with $82 million for all state firms in those categories.
Mollie Cole, president of the Chicago- based National Association of Women's Business Advocates, attributed the increase in women-owned businesses to the ``funky'' economy.
``There appear to be more opportunities for small businesses overall, and women continue to take advantage of those,'' she said. Additionally, ``there is still a glass ceiling that exists.''
Despite the jump in business ownership, women still face gender bias when branching out on their own, she said. ``That may be attributed to the kind of businesses women tend to start,'' she said. ``They tend to be clustered in the service industry without a lot of hard, fixed assets.''
But once they start a businesses, women often have a lower failure rate than men.
``There are no hard and fast reasons,'' Cole said. ``I guess it's the characteristics of the female person. She tends to ask more questions, and we're not known as risk-takers, so we do our homework, even if its takes years.''
The report also found:
About 520,000 of the women-owned businesses nationally were ``C'' corporations. They generated $932 billion in revenue - nearly 60 percent of the revenue for all women-owned businesses.
Overall, 40 percent of all retail and service businesses are owned by women.
Growth rates for women businesses in nontraditional areas increased dramatically. The number of construction firms rose more than 50 percent, and wholesale trade businesses jumped more than 85 percent.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB