iCast recently  featured three incredible women who are from Pakistan , educated in the US and have gone back to Pakistan, using their Harvard and MIT education to give back to their communities . Using micro loans and entrepreneurship to empower the women in their villages, they have already brought solar electricity and water to their villages, education for girls (almost unheard of in many small villages), and young women. Most impressive is that this has been done in a sustainable manner . Their micro loans are used to generate the initial capital for a business idea that the village women all participate in and  the loans are rapidly paid back  at 97% payback rates against U.S. loan repayment rates of just 72% at this time. Patrice Barber was invited to attend this exclusive event and is delighted to be providing online business support with internet marketing and mobile marketing to these women celebrating the empowerment of women entrepreneurs world wide. http://rockies.tie.org/event/46/recharge-pakistan-through-empowering-women-tie-rockies-collaboration-icast

American women are launching new companies at 1.5 times the national rate, but most of these queen bees are not growing their companies beyond 100 employees and $1 million in revenues, a new survey from American Express finds. The reason behind that sluggishness is true for businesses owned by both men and women: Large, publicly traded firms, which account for just 3 percent of all U.S. businesses, now employ 53 percent of the workforce—up from 43 percent in 1997—and they generate 64 percent of business revenues, up from 55 percent just a decade ago. “Even as women-owned firms continue to grow in number at rates exceeding the national average—they are not moving along the growth continuum,” concludes the American Express OPEN State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, released late Thursday. “In terms of both revenue and employment, the share of women-owned firms at the highest levels of business accomplishment has remained essentially unchanged over the past 14 years.” The report, drawn from 2010 U.S. Census data, found that there are more than 8.1 million women-owned businesses in the U.S., generating nearly $1.3 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.7 million people. Enterprises that are at least 51 percent owned by women account for 29 percent of all U.S. companies, and they employ 6 percent of the nation’s workforce and contribute 4 percent of business revenues nationwide. In 1997, 2.5 percent of women-owned firms employed 10 or more employees, and 1.8 percent brought in $1 million or more in revenues. As of 2011, the percentage of women-owned firms employing 10 or more dropped to 1.9 percent, and the percentage that brought $1 million or more in revenues was flat at 1.8 percent. There are variations by state, of course. California, for example, is home to the greatest number of women-owned firms in the country, with more than 1 million companies that employ 979,700 workers and bring in about $193 billion, reports the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. Below are some notable statistics from the state-by-state breakdowns, based upon figures from 1997 to 2011. The full report is available here.

• Fastest growth for women-owned businesses: Nationally, the number of women-owned businesses has increased 50 percent since 1997. The states with the fastest growth in the number of women-owned firms over the past 14 years are: Georgia, 97.5 percent; Nevada, 87.6 percent; Mississippi, 76.7 percent; Florida, 73.3 percent; and North Carolina, 68.8 percent. Growth was slowest in Alaska, up 8.8 percent; followed by West Virginia, 17.8 percent; Iowa, 20.1 percent; Indiana, 23.7 percent; and Vermont, 26.2 percent.
• Fastest-growing revenues for women-owned businesses: Nationally, business revenues for all companies increased an average of 53 percent over the last 14 years. In Wyoming, women-owned businesses saw revenues up 170 percent; District of Columbia, 146.7 percent; New Hampshire, 117.8 percent; Utah, 117.6 percent; and Louisiana, 110.3 percent.

Men did not necessarily fare much better. Men-owned firms are, on average, larger than women-owned ones, and twice as many men own companies which employ 10 or more people. In addition, three times as many male-owned businesses have reached the $1 million revenue mark. Yet, male entrepreneurs have not moved up the growth continuum either, the report says. Since 1997, the share of men-owned firms with 10 or more employees fell from 6.6 percent to 4.9 percent, and the percentage of men-owned firms making $1 million or more in revenues fell from 6.6 percent to 6.3 percent. “Reviewing the totality of small business and large corporate (publicly traded) growth trends over the past decade leads one to the conclusion that, in the battle of David/Diana versus Goliath, Goliath is winning,” the report states.