How Hiring Women Other Businesses Won't Has Made 'All The Difference'

Robert Frost suggested that taking the road less traveled made all the difference. The Women's Bean Project, a nonprofit in Denver, Colorado, employs only women generally considered unemployable. For nearly 30 years, the social enterprise has worked to help women learn to work by giving them jobs; that is how they make a difference.

The "Bean," as insiders know it, was recently selected by REDF, a national organization that supports social enterprises like the Bean, that "provide jobs, support, and training to people who would otherwise have a tough time getting into the workforce," for a growth investment, according to Carla Javits, President and CEO of REDF.

The Bean, according to CEO Tamra Ryan, generates $2.2 million in revenue and employs 75 women. The business generates a modest gross margin on sales of gourmet dried food products of just 8 percent. The organization's other costs are funded by grants and donations. Read the story in Forbes.

Women-owned businesses have grown 74 percent over last two decades

More and more women own their own businesses in Indiana and Illinois, but growth in female-owned firms is much slower in the Hoosier state.

A study by American Express OPEN using U.S. Census data found the number of women-owned businesses has skyrocketed nationally by 74 percent since 1997. Illinois ranks 19th nationally with 68 percent growth in the number of female business owners over the last 18 years, while Indiana placed 45th nationwide with 37.7 percent growth.

Women-owned businesses however are more profitable in Indiana where their revenue has grown 93 percent between 1997 and 2015. Over the same period, profits for women-owned businesses grew only 33.7 percent in Illinois, placing it 48th nationally. Read more in the Northwest Herald.