Episode Notes

Lisa Fain, C.E.O. of the Center for Mentoring Excellence, says that growing up in a 1980s entrepreneurial home gave her a sense of purpose, place, and accountability. It reinforced an understanding that Lisa could contribute to the world, shape her work, and be independent. This independent thinking started in her formative years when Lisa and her brother were encouraged to make plans and prepare their meals.

When Dr. Lois Zachary founded Leadership Development Services, L.L.C., and its Center for Mentoring Excellence, her daughter, Lisa Fain, was in high school. Women entrepreneurship was on the rise, “according to the 1988 State of Small Business Report, the number of sole proprietorships owned by women increased 62 percent between 1980 and 1986. I found this impressive since women weren’t encouraged to start businesses until 1972, with a few exceptions like Mary Kay Ash, who founded Mary Kay Cosmetics in 1963. 

In 1972, the floodgates opened for women when Title IX (a federal civil rights act) was passed prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from our federal government. Women’s organized sports began their rise alongside business ownership because federal monies started flowing into them.

Now, “women account for 41% of the global workforce and control more than $20 trillion in annual spending. Predictions are that this number will go up to $28 trillion in the next few years.” 

As Dr. Zachary built her educational consultancy and her husband, Ed Zachary expanded his legal firm in Syracuse, New York; they still managed to be present and engaged parents. Role modeling the benefits of fulfilling work fueled Lisa’s entrepreneurial spirit that sprouted in her 30s and 40s. Hear how Lisa took her diverse interests in political science, sociology, and economics with a social justice bend to acquire an interdisciplinary degree from Northwestern University in Chicago. Two required courses taught by a cherished mentor helped Lisa understand ways to repair the world. Eventually, she became a lawyer, mediator, coach, and C.E.O. at the Center for Mentoring Excellence.

Other Conversation Highlights

• Although not a fair way to measure oneself, comparing Lisa’s start to someone else’s finish was a benefit in determining Lisa’s major.
• The next generation. They are raising Talia and Emily with David in their entrepreneurial home.
• Lisa’s lifework of inclusion, diversity, and equity. Creating a mentoring culture for retention and attraction.
• Insights into Millennials and Gen Zs.
• Alternatives to the Peanut Butter approach.

My conversation with Lisa sparked my curiosity to research the newest female entrepreneurship statistics. I am excited to report that we’re progressing globally on inclusion, diversity, and equity. Check out the statistics below.

Key Female Entrepreneurship 2022 Statistics 

• 22.4% of small business owners in the U.S. are women.
• 17% of black women are in the process of starting or running a new business.
• The female entrepreneurial activity rate in the U.S. is 13.6%.
• 14% of women-owned businesses employ between 11 and 50+ workers.
• Women represent 50% of entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean.
• Women made up 36.8% of Canadian business owners in 2021.
• South Asia has less than 20% of female entrepreneurs.
• Women-owned and controlled enterprises create direct employment for about 27 million people in India.

Women entrepreneurship thrived during the 2020/2021 crisis, according to the world’s foremost study of worldwide entrepreneurship, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (G.E.M.). Amanda Elam, a G.E.M. researcher, Research Fellow at Babson College’s Diana International Research Institute, and the lead author of the G.E.M. 2020/2021 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report, said there is a “slow shift in the narrative on women’s entrepreneurship from encouraging a high number of startups to more focus on promoting higher growth activities. Tens of millions of women around the world are making a significant impact. It is now time to work on the key promoting factors, like providing strong champions and role models, inclusion in influential business networks, and access to financial capital, that ensure women entrepreneurs and business owners who are starting and growing high-growth companies can thrive.” 

Keep Mentoring

We need more champions and role models to influence positive growth in the world, like trailblazers Lisa and Lois.

We (all of us) need to be active and stay engaged to bring positive change to our world. I am doing my civic duty on November 8th, 2022, by voting and being an Election Judge. Mentor wherever you can. Raise someone through a conversation. Create a family system that embraces learning and choices. Or, transition your workplace into a mentoring environment with a shared-power structure. Use your imagination to give a hand-up and less of a handout.

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