EP98. The value of female entrepreneurship

I've just finished recording an interview with my colleague Anna Green, our education manager at Formula Botanica, and by the time this recording goes live, you'll already have listened to my conversation with Anna in your favorite podcast app because it was released last week when we looked at how indie beauty is contributing to gender equality. Now, Anna and I really enjoyed delving into the ways that indie beauty has already and can further empower more women. And as I reflect on this question several days before International Women's Day takes place on March 8, I think it's important to further highlight the ways that female entrepreneurship can also help with the drive to sustainable development. Goal Number five in the UN Sustainable Development Goal specifically covers gender equality and women's empowerment because gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. Now, I've talked a lot about green and sustainable beauty on this podcast over the last couple of years and now, days before the 2022 International Women's Day, I want us all to think about the role that female entrepreneurship can play in sustainable beauty. For that reason, I wanted to record this short opinion piece and challenge you to think about how we can achieve further gender equality in the beauty industry. Hi, it's Lorraine Dallmayer, chartered environmentalist, biologist and CEO of award winning online organic cosmetic formulation school Formula Botanica. I host the Green Beauty Conversations podcast and these are my green beauty opinions in which I share my main takeaways from the podcast interview we released last week. In this short episode, I put forward my main thoughts on the topic we last discussed, as well as setting you a challenge to make the green beauty sector a better place. So let's talk about female entrepreneurship and how it contributes to sustainable development. As we all know, gender discrimination means that women often end up in insecure, low wage jobs and that they constitute a small minority of those in senior and leadership positions. And that doesn't even take into account the impacts of COVID Research by the NGO Oxfam in 2021 revealed that during the first year of the pandemic, women lost 64 million jobs and suffered at least US$800 billion in revenue losses. And yet, as yet, these estimates do not even account for the millions of women who work in the informal economy and who have also lost their livelihoods. And that's why it's so important that women can secure decent jobs, accumulate assets, take on leadership and decision making roles, and influence institutions and policies determining growth and development. Female entrepreneurship also plays a role in all of this, but why Is that. And that's what I want to unpick in this green beauty opinion today. So the first and most important point is of course, that an increase in women's economic and socio political participation improves the well being of women because societal benefits are increased when women promote social change, innovation and development. In other words, women lift up women. We've seen it with countless examples in our Formula Botanica student community too. When our graduates start businesses, they're forming connections, networks and alliances with other women. They're employing women, they're promoting women. Being acutely aware of the fact that you have less or no seat at the table makes you want to change that for other women too. It's certainly something I've seen among my female entrepreneur friends over the years as well. Now we know what profound change can happen when we lift up others. I read one article in the Journal of Sustainability which said, and I quote, the dynamic promoters of social transformations can alter the lives of both women and men. Now, the second really important point is that female entrepreneurs allow women to be increasingly seen by men as well as women as active agents of change. That means women running businesses inspire other people to see what's possible. I certainly feel that way and I follow numerous other women running businesses online because I love watching what they do. I feel inspired by them. They show me what's possible and they give me confidence and motivation to do more and to be more. And the third incredibly important point is that entrepreneurship can help alleviate poverty, enhance healthcare and education, and reduce environmental destruction. By empowering more women to run businesses, we bring more diversity to the conversation at all levels and in all parts of society, which is so desperately needed to achieve the sustainable development goals that we've set for ourselves. Now, I do want to caveat all of this by saying that our current view of women's entrepreneurship can sometimes be a little bit too masculine or US or Eurocentric. Entrepreneurs tend to be viewed as people who create wealth rather than change. So perhaps by encouraging, funding and supporting more female entrepreneurship, we also need to change our expectations of what entrepreneurship should achieve. There is a tendency to reduce our impacts as entrepreneurs to a bottom line figure. But of course, our impact can go much further than that. I see this with many of my female entrepreneur friends too, who teach others online how to start their business. And their conversations tend to be focused far more on the impact that their customers can have, rather than just the wealth that they can create. That's also why in 2022, the most successful businesses are the ones who have a mission that makes a difference. I love the theme for this year's International Women's Day. It's called hashtag Break the Bias. It sets out a call to achieve a world that is diverse, equitable and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. And I believe strongly that female entrepreneurship can play a huge role in helping to break that bias and contribute to sustainable development. I certainly see how our work at Formula Botanica has helped shape the lives of thousands of women around the world and given them an opportunity to gain a skill that they could turn into a business in the indie beauty sector. A skill that they can use to change their lives and the lives of people around them. A skill that could give them a seat at the table. So my challenge to you for this week is simple. Get ready for International Women's Day on March 8th and get ready to take part in the Break the Bias campaign by posting your own photo online in which you strike the IWD 2022 pose. And if you're an indie beauty, please do join the conversation in how we can lift up more women in leadership and decision making roles. After all, one of the main targets set by the UN for achieving gender equality is to ensure women's full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life. And while indie beauty of course only plays a small role in that important goal, it highlights yet again that we can all play our part. Thank you for listening to my Green Beauty opinions. Remember to visit the Formula botanica website@formulabotanica.com to try our free online formulation course. And if you haven't subscribed yet to the Green Beauty Conversations podcast, please make sure you do so in your favorite podcast app. Leave me a five star review if you enjoy the conversations. I host and I'll be back soon with my next episode.