Garage potential open – women wanted

What do bullet-proof vests, fire escapes, windscreen wipers, and laser printers all have in common? All were invented by women. Yet in spite of women’s ability to invent and devise only 43 women have climbed the traditional ladder to become CEOs of Fortune 1000 companies in the last 35 years. If you think that’s a low number, consider that only three companies total have been founded by women and all of those were co-founded by men.

This is 2008. Forget about the glass ceilings. Why aren’t more women in garages? I don’t mean working in a garage – I mean inventing, exploring, bootstrapping and starting businesses – in a garage, at the kitchen table, in a home office – somewhere! I know they’re out there. I was at a conference in North Carolina recently and witnessed 175 women, about 130 of them African American, many of them teenagers – all of them business owners or in the process of starting their business. There are women making a difference. The number of women starting businesses is twice that of the national average of men starting businesses.

Where are the Jenny Craig’s, the Debbi Fields (Mrs. Fields Famous Brands), the Estée Lauder, the Ruth Fertel (Ruth’s Chris Steak House) and the Mary Kay Ash’s? Are you a woman? Do you know a young woman with the potential to be a CEO or company founder? Support and encourage her. The world is better and safer because of the inventions of women. Imagine if they ran more companies.