“What are the most common challenges that you’ve seen people face or that you face?”
Moderating the Against the Odds Entrepreneurs panel at NJBIA’s 12th Annual Women Business Leaders Forum, Disrupt the Gap founder Shell Bobev kicked things off with the question on everyone’s mind.
For Tenisha Malcom-Wint, the hardest thing was asking for help.
“We don’t want to give the impression that we are not experts in our own right,” she said. “We don’t want to show up like we are lacking some kind of leadership or executive presence.”
Malcolm-Wint has a busy schedule. The VP of External Affairs for Girl Scouts Heart of New Jersey and the founder of Outdoors on Purpose, her workload can get challenging.
“I am a woman who wears many hats, so you’ll be like, well, when does she sleep?” she joked.
Marion Chamberlain of Chamberlain Leadership approached the topic with a different issue: financial literacy. Having spent 22 years working with women entrepreneurs, she noticed a tendency for entrepreneurs to rely on grants when starting a business.
“You really need to look at alternatives and become financially educated,” she said. “We might not have a lot of grants available for women entrepreneurs in New Jersey, but we have a ton of resources.”
Finally, Eagle Strategies’ Elvira Chaush chimed in with a glaring challenge of being a female entrepreneur: how the business world views women. “I would hear comments like, ‘Do you work with your husband?’”
A harsh reality of being a woman entrepreneur, the business world makes assumptions about women starting their own businesses. The panelists shared their stories. Some stayed solopreneurs. Some partnered with men (keeping 51% of the company, of course). All of them fought to get where they are today.
But there is a bright side: women entrepreneurs always have one another. “There is plenty of room in this field for all of us to work together,” Malcolm-Wint said.
And the audience responded, engaging with the conversation and asking questions about the panelists’ experiences. Afterward, a line formed for other entrepreneurs to meet with the speakers.
The business world might challenge these women, but the panel proved they would look out for one another.
