Online Business Is The Most Important Change For Women's Entrepreneurship In The Last Hundred Years

By KATE ISLER, CEO and CoFounder, WMarketplace | Author, Breaking Borders | Speaker | Global Sales and Marketing Leader | C200 Member

Women use capital more efficiently, foster better corporate culture and collaborate better, says Kate Isler, founder of the business accelerator for women-owned businesses.

The U.S. State Department established in 2019 the AWE program to support women entrepreneurs in starting and growing their businesses. So far, more than 25,000 female entrepreneurs from more than a hundred countries have participated in it worldwide. In June, the U.S. Embassy in Slovenia and the business community CEED Slovenia held a special AWE 4U program aimed at Ukrainian women who live in Slovenia and want to start their own business or already have one and need support for growth. The conference was led by Kate Isler, who has extensive experience in entrepreneurship, and for the last few years has been running online sales accelerator WMarketplace, which she describes as an "economic engine for women".

You've spent a large part of your career working for Microsoft, can you tell us about that?

I feel like the time I spent at Microsoft was 200 years long. I started in the USA, after a few years I moved to the Middle East and was responsible for product marketing and marketing communications in the entire region. From there I moved to the UK where I did the same work for Africa, India and the Middle East. Then I moved to Munich, where I performed a similar task, opening offices and managing support for partner companies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. After that I lead teams in the UK responsible for MSN, Search and Windows based in the UK and finally my last role at the company was leading Integrated Marketing and Campaigns for Microsoft Windows based in the U.S. headquarters.

In 2021, your memoir Breaking Borders was published by HarperCollions Leadership, What is its main message in the book?

I wrote the book because I am a very normal, average woman. If you look at my career from the outside, it seems that it only went up, but of course it wasn't just like that: sometimes it was successful, sometimes a little sideways, sometimes a little backwards.

I have three sons and a husband. When I accepted a job in the Middle East, I had to convince my husband to quit his job to take care of our young child.

My message in the book is that you can do this and there's no reason women can't follow their dreams. I think that we (women) are oftentimes limited because some things seem self-evident or self-thought. You often make your own decisions and exclude some option, for example because you think you don't have the right education, or that you don't have the appropriate skills or to many other responsibilities for a job or promotion.

My message is that you have all that, you also have ambitions and dreams, so you can follow them. I wasn't a typical Microsoft employee, but I had a solid career with them without a college degree. In 2018, four years after I left the company, I went to college and graduated.

Did you even need it at this point?

I felt I had to do it. I studied when I was young, but I didn't finish. When I first talked about re-enrolling at the university, I was told that if I wanted a degree in business sciences, I would have to do an internship. I thought - should I do an internship in my company? So I decided only to get a general studies degree.

In recent years, you have been running the online sales accelerator Wmarketplace, building an e- commerce platform dedicated to supporting women-owned businesses, service providers. Why did you choose this field?

I think online shopping and doing business online is the most important change for women's entrepreneurship in over a hundred years. One of the things we do with the accelerator is to support women to scale up and start their business online and to do it effectively, because online sales can be done from anywhere, regardless of cultural conditions or family obligations of individuals. We teach women how to take advantage of this opportunity. Worldwide, by 2027, approximately 30 percent of all sales, both B2B and B2C, will be online. In Eastern Europe, the share of this form of sales will be 24 percent by 2026.

I think that this is why concrete support and work with women is needed in order for them to be able to take advantage of this opportunity. As part of the accelerator, we have courses that start with practical skills on how to effectively list and present your products or services online, where to sell them. We perform sales channel analysis to help them understand whether it is better to have their own website for a single brand, whether they should join an online marketplace or whether they should seek a partnership. We also teach them the skills to use the basics of artificial intelligence so that they can use their entrepreneurial activities more productively. If they are generally dealing with services or products, of course they are not really experts in technology opportunities, but we provide them with some very practical shortcuts.

Why did you focus on the Eastern European market?

We have focused strongly on the Ukrainian market in particular. A year and a half ago, I was approached by Empower Her, a program of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and was asked to speak at a webinar for Ukrainian women entrepreneurs. From this, we built virtual programs with Ukrainian women entrepreneurs, both those who are still in Ukraine and those who are displaced. About 60 Ukrainian women have recently completed this program, and more than 250 women's companies have completed it in the last two years.

In which countries are the most displaced Ukrainian businesswomen?

Most of those with whom we have cooperated so far are in Poland and Germany.

In Ljubljana, you participated in the program Academy for Women Entrepreneurs with 73 participants. What have you been doing?

The participants came from eight European countries, including a delegation from Ukraine. I spoke to them about the opportunity to rebuild Ukraine and include women-owned businesses in it. Amazing women-owned Ukrainian companies were featured, as well as Ukrainian business leaders who have been supporting Ukrainian women entrepreneurs in recent years.

We also talked about dealing with more personal issues, balancing life in new countries and building a new customer base, new supply chains and partners, and how to bring that back to Ukraine. Then we had a pitch contest, the three winners won investments in their companies.

I believe that the event in Ljubljana inspired these women to start working even harder in their companies after their return.

What were the specific business areas of e-business for the Ukrainian entrepreneurs you worked with in Ljubljana?

These are very different companies, some of them create very innovative products, for example vegan sweets and chocolates or products for home decoration. There are some providers of content, tourist services, there are also providers of coaching. There are a few B2B companies, but above all there are many suppliers of food products.

The great thing about e-commerce is that there is no typical product or service, as it is a sales channel that can be used by all types of businesses, from, say, a fashion company and online bookings to a woman who started a sewing class business, a graphic designer and creators of (digital) content.

We tried to assess whether there is a vertical industry in which online sales are more successful - there is not; we discussed how online sales works- that you need to think thoroughly, not only from the point of view of the technological algorithm, but also from the user experience side.

Do they find it difficult to start and then expand their business?

They definitely need support. There is a large community in Poland, the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce, which supports Ukrainian businesswomen. They have taken these women in, they are helping them with their business, many of them are focused on the online component of their business. These companies can develop and increase their business, later they will be able to return to Ukraine with them and have a significant impact on the long-term economic development of the country.

What surprised you the most about the Ukrainian women entrepreneurs you worked with in your accelerator?

I have seen amazing energy and innovation in these women, they are incredibly resilient. Many of them moved from Ukraine, learned new languages, new customs and started their own businesses. According to some study, there are two main reasons that Ukrainian women start businesses all over the world: either out of necessity, so something has happened and they need to make money, or because of a business opportunity, seeing a gap in the market that they can fill. In a survey of Ukrainian female business owners, 79 percent said they saw a business opportunity. This is contrary to what you would expect – that they went into entrepreneurship out of existential necessity.

What message do you see in this?

To me, this says a lot about the resilience and innovation of women in entrepreneurship. I saw women who were highly motivated, interested and eager to start their own business. I believe there are two ways to overcome the pay gap for women: one is to start your own business, and the other is to invest in women's businesses.

In 2023, out of 38,000 registered companies in Ukraine, 51 percent were women's (companies). Huge, despite great obstacles and challenges, as Ukrainian businesswomen generally do not trust the government, government interventions and programs. There is also a lack of capital. All this does not deter them, so I think we need to support these women, who will be a big piece of the engine of the reconstruction of Ukraine, which will certainly be celebrated by big companies, but it will not be possible without small businesses to build real economic infrastructure, a viable banking system and a workforce. Therefore, it should be seen as an area of ​​major investment.

Do you cooperate with Ukrainian businesswomen in any other way?

We are working on a project in collaboration with Ukrainian businesses and government, as well as the U.S. government and NGOs, to conduct a comprehensive market assessment in Ukraine to determine what infrastructure is needed to support women-owned businesses in building Ukrainian economy. We will finish this project in the coming months.

For years, there has been a lot of talk about the glass ceiling, an informal system of invisible barriers made up of bias and stereotypes that make it difficult for women to advance professionally. What is your experience with this in the tech industry?

I think this is a challenging topic. Gender equity is certainly controversial and uncomfortable in many ways, although it does not always have to be. Every year the World Economic Forum issues a report on the aspect of gender gap . On this year's list, Slovenia is in 29th place out of 146 countries, while the USA is in 43rd place. America is significantly lower than many countries in Europe. We have a huge legacy of our institutions that reinforce gender bias, so there is no quick fix for this through entrepreneurship. I don't think there is any sector that has already overcome this. I also believe that women graduate with a higher level of education than men. There is some equality in their first jobs, but there are fewer opportunities for women in terms of parental leave. I think that needs to change.

I encourage women, especially women in tech, to motivate and mentor each other. The room for women is limited and until we start to operate and bring other women with us and not compete with each other, it will be difficult to change that. I am a strong advocate of women supporting women. You can regulate, pass laws and introduce policies at will, but above all you must change the culture. So I think it's a long-term play.

Women are at a much greater disadvantage than men in the tech industry. Is there any sector where they are more successful?

I think there is some segmentation for women in individual technology fields. Historically, women, even in technological companies, work mainly in marketing and HR. I wish I had an answer on how to change this. Part of it is certainly in the organizational culture in companies.

They may start working at a tech company, they may have the skills, but they rarely continue their careers there. At a certain point, not very far in their career, there is a high rate of leaving such companies because they are not working in good conditions. I believe that there is still a lot to be done in technology companies, especially at the mid-level management. To give you some insight - Microsoft is based in Washington State, which ranks 49th out of 50 states in the United States for equal pay. Such a gap in this sector is primarily driven by the tech giants Amazon and Microsoft.

China and India have become very powerful in technology in the last decade or two, but no data can be found regarding the equality of women in this field.

I don't have any data on that either, but as far as I know, there isn't much equality there. A lot of energy is spent on gender equity, but there are very few concrete plans for it, and at the same time there are no metrics or reports. No country has an implementation plan to track this problem, and report measurable metrics throughout women's careers.

Gender equity is not about women being higher level than men. It is about equality, about the fact that women and men do not start from the same starting point. All global business research, such as the McKinsey study, tracks first jobs, which are very similar. Often women are paid the same, but it changes mid-career when they have children. The end result is that in the United States there are more CEOs named Mike than there are women CEOs

As can be read in many articles, gender discrimination has worsened during the Covid pandemic, when many women worked from home and took care of their families at the same time. In Germany, for example, workplace discrimination against black women has been on the rise for the past 15 years, and during the pandemic it even increased to 79 percent. How do you perceive this problem?

It was this strong economic impact on women that was one of the reasons that we started our business accelerator, and at the same time, the pandemic offered an opportunity to bring online sales closer to them, because in those conditions it became the only way to buy and obtain products and services.

Business strategies are now up and running in some areas in terms of investment incentives and tax regulations that can make a big difference: for local governments to focus on women, promote programs to support women-owned businesses, implement favorable investment and business tax policies for them, and to incent companies to include women in supply chains. These strategies are often a very good and financially sensible leverage for companies.

What about economic markets?

These economies, communities, municipalities and countries can see the significant and measurable contribution of women-owned businesses to GDP. A 2023 study by American venture capital firm First Round Capital on the performance of women-owned companies found that all-women teams perform 63 percent better on average than male teams. For mixed female-male teams led by women, they are 35 percent better than male-led companies. Put another way, women-owned businesses have an average return on every dollar invested of 78 percent, compared to 31 percent for men-owned businesses.

On the other hand, the fact that women receive less than two percent of institutional investments is surprising every time. I often start conversations with male investors by pointing out that they will invest about 98 percent of their assets in companies that they know will not be profitable. They look at me and wonder what I'm talking about. But this trend is not new, it has existed for 15 years and is documented.

What is the reason for the greater success of women's companies?

Women often use capital more efficiently. They foster better culture and teams in companies. Of course, this is a generalization, as there are exceptions on both sides, but women-owned companies have a longer retention of employees. I also believe that we women cooperate better. In men's companies, there is a different, "bro" culture, for example, you recommend your friend for a job vacancy or for an investment. As a rule, we women don't do that.

In Europe, in recent years, many women have given up on jobs in technology companies, and female investors are also withdrawing. Can this trend be reversed?

I think it's a kind of push-back, even by politics, and a power play in business. In the fight for equal conditions, someone has to lose, and it's unpleasant. I hope that young people are coming to change these relationships, but I think that there are still a lot of cultural bias that rule in big companies, certainly in technology companies. The fact that there are no large e-commerce platforms or social networks owned by women speaks for itself. There is a structure in, say, Amazon and Meta that makes it very difficult (especially for a woman) to be successful. They have huge lobbies, a strong presence all over the world and therefore can control the competition very effectively.

So you can't say it will be better in ten years?

The World Economic Forum estimates that wage equity will be achieved in 137 years. I am very realistic, but that does not mean that I believe that nothing can be done. I think we can instigate some cultural changes - how we treat each other, and to recognize the importance of women working together, mentoring each other and collaborating. I want to be optimistic about how we can make progress, but I think there are no quick solutions.

Read the original article on Finance Manager.