In my earlier post I had discussed the most successful women is Asia, that had made it to the Forbes list. The women that were discussed were working in a corporate environment and achieved success by overcoming the barriers that women face. In this blog-post, I wanted to share with you this article that I came across on the website Under30CEO.com. It was mentioned on one of the Discussion Board Topics, that why are all entrepreneurs of successful websites like Facebook, Zappos, and Twitter all male, when women are the key factors behind the success of these websites. So I decided to do my own research on some successful women entrepreneurs, who not only were able to come up with a successful business plan but were running ti successfully today.
The link to the article is : http://under30ceo.com/top-15-young-female-entrepreneurs-and-their-rising-companies/
All the women mentioned in the article range from the age of 15-29 years old. It is astonishing and motivating to know that there are successful women entrepreneurs there who started there business doing something they love. The story that stood out to me the most was of Maddie Bradshaw who is only fifteen years old. It is mentioned in the article that:
“Maddie Bradshaw is the founder of the $1.6million a year company, M3 Girl Designs. What started as simple locker decorations has turned into a thriving company for young girls. The companies necklaces and designs are sold throughout the U.S. and they sell over 50,000 necklaces a month.
Maddie has plans to expand the company into other accessories beyond just necklaces in the near future.”
Who would have that some girl would be making over one and a half million dollars out of what seems to be normal ritual for a teenager girl, which is decorating lockers or making jewelry? As inspiring the story is, I could not help but notice the fact that a majority of these women owned business that were more “women-oriented”. There was only two business’ that Learn Vest that dealt with helping women develop good financial habbits and Khush an iPad music app that dealt with finance or technology, and industry predominantly male entrepreneur are present.
The fact that a teenager is the CEO and founder of a multimillion dollar company is not only jaw dropping, but extremely motivational as well. To take an idea as simple as locker decorations, which was probably just a commonplace thing within Maddie Bradshaw’s school, and market them as necklaces to create a company that peaks $1.6 million a year is no small feat. Maddie has used her creativity to create a great life for her and her family at a young age. It was mentioned in articles that we’ve read previously for this class that more stories should be told about successful women entrepreneurs within our schools. I believe that we should not only tell more stories about successful adult entrepreneurs (both male & female), but tell the stories of these successful teen’s and young adults both male and female because it is easier for our youth to identify with figureheads that are closer to their own age group. I believe that these stories have great potential within learning environments both as an educational tool and a motivational tool.
I remember seeing Maddie on the show Shark Tank on ABC. If you haven’t seen this show, it is basically a show about people pitching their business ideas to venture capitalists. It was jaw dropping to me as well when I saw her on the show. As you guys have mentioned this is very motivational and shows how a little creativity and drive can take you a long way.
Amazing girl. I did watch the video with Maddie Bradshaw where she was talking how she started her business (snap caps-magnets), how did she fund her business (from personal savings from Christmas money-gifts, and from her checking account $300), how she balance life and business ( it is a hobby). Maddie gave a practical advice to all women: “Just follow your passion!”. And the most important thing-she was only 13 years old when she first started her business. No words, she is such amazing girl!