New York, New York: the world city which, perhaps more than any other, inspires entrepreneurs striving for global success. Of course, this is in addition to the diverse mix of cultural enrichments for which New York is widely celebrated. I admit to a positive bias, arising from my first-hand experience having worked in New York, and through my current role as a consultant to Australian companies planning to launch in the United States.
Recently, New York notched up another first, but one that may have raised eyebrows. The Big Apple was awarded #1 ranking on the Women Entrepreneurs Cities Index (WE Cities Index). This is clear acknowledgment that New York is the best global city for attracting and fostering growth of high potential women entrepreneurs. Published by Dell Corporation, the WE Cities Index is a well validated and comprehensive assessment of 25 global cities, based on 5 criteria – technology, culture, capital, market and talent. To date, Sydney is the only participating Australian city, and was ranked eighth this year. This favorable ranking was primarily based on a supportive culture founded on access to mentors and role models. An impressive achievement, particularly when we consider Sydney outranked the usual “heavy-hitters” – Paris, Seattle, Munich and Hong Kong. Yet other cities out performed Sydney, including: San Francisco (Bay Area), London, Stockholm, Singapore, Toronto, Washington D.C., and of course New York. Interestingly, New York’s overall primacy was based on a low absolute score, suggesting further scope for improvement.
At this point Sydneysiders could bask in the glow of our well-deserved top-10 ranking. But I hear a collective “How can we get to #1?”. An important distinction is that women entrepreneurs in New York are comparatively better supported on the key measures of capital, culture, market and talent. This may be surprising since it appears to contradict the quintessentially male-centric, “Wall Street” culture. Reflecting on personal experience, I can report that a resurgent New York has, over the years, adopted policies and initiatives supportive of women entrepreneurs. For example, in the last five years, women-owned businesses in New York have grown by 45 percent, and now make up over 40 percent of private businesses. These programs have had a positive economic impact, by employing nearly 200,000 New Yorkers and contributing approximately USD50bn in annual sales.
Let us now closely consider the New York experience, and determine how Sydney can implement similar initiatives to further support home-grown women entrepreneurs.
- Local Government Policies
A key legislation that has helped drive the growth of New York’s women entrepreneurs is Article 15-A of the State Executive Law. Passed in 1988, Article 15-A established a Division of Minority and Women’s Business Development. The main purpose was to promote fair and equal participation in government contracts by women-owned business.
In 2015, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio took further steps to mandate all government agencies adopt new measures to promote women businesses. The directive required the appointment of an officer within each agency to represent the interests of women, with USD16 billion dollars funding over ten years. Furthermore, in order to facilitate access to funds, NYC’s Small Business Services signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Empire State Development Corporation to help women business owners secure government projects. For example, construction businesses can now receive up to 30% of the contract value to secure a bond on city projects worth USD2 million. These initiatives have the empowering effect of removing one of the major barriers for women entrepreneurs – access to capital. In this regard, Sydney ranked poorly on the WE Cities Index.
- Women in Key Leadership Positions
The recent growth in the number of women entrepreneurs in New York coincides with a period of increased participation by women in government. This may be a consequence of the “unconscious bias” phenomenon which exists across global innovation clusters, most notably in Silicon Valley. In New York, women hold more than half of the highest-ranking jobs in the City’s administration, and have leadership positions in 70 percent of 27 governmental agencies sampled. This has helped create a cultural shift where a premium is placed on establishing environments that are conducive to female owned enterprises.
Businesswomen in New York are great advocates of their own causes, perhaps because they are better able to understand the unique issues that constitute a barrier to women who strive for success in business. The City of Sydney has strong representation of women in leadership positions. This is best represented by the electoral successes of Lord Mayor Clover Moore. However, while there are “working groups” focused on entrepreneurial initiatives, there are no dedicated senior leadership positions with responsibility for policy development for Sydney women entrepreneurs.
- Public-Private Partnership Programs
New York has a wealth of expertise leveraging public-private partnerships to develop and promote public policy. One such initiative is the Women Entrepreneurs NYC (WE NYC) program, facilitated by the city’s Small Business Services in collaboration with Citigroup. The goal is to foster 5,000 new women entrepreneurs over 3 years. The program offers a suite of resources needed to initiate and up scale a business. This includes free master classes on basic business and entrepreneurial skills, mentoring, capital raising, negotiation workshops and intensive classes dedicated to specific industries.
In 2016, City of Sydney unveiled the “Tech Start-Up Action Plan”, a comprehensive program for both male and female entrepreneurs. The primary focus for women is the partnership with Springboard Enterprises Australia, a global support network for female entrepreneurs with high-growth potential. In addition, the City of Sydney held the inaugural “Spark” Festival comprising 60 events in collaboration with industry groups, several specific for women. Finally, the New South Wales Government recently launched the Women’s Online Network, a resource specifically for women entrepreneurs. These initiatives represent definitive early steps towards establishing an enabling culture for local women entrepreneurs; a momentum that should be maintained.
A Shining future for The Emerald City
In the course of researching this article, I have become aware of the relative lack of local data relating to women entrepreneurial activities. I believe a core responsibility of policy-makers is to foster a positive environment for growth, and this should start with better data collection to help assess outcomes of key programs. Moreover, there is an apparent shortcoming in the full engagement of women entrepreneurs to ensure rigorous feedback on policy development. Master classes covering topics such as financial management, negotiation skills, marketing, business lifecycle, compliance and risk management are required. We must also develop goal-orientated programs to enable the flow of capital, accompanied by a targeted communication strategy. Finally, we need to recognize that developing a successful and sustainable environment for women entrepreneurs requires dedication and commitment of resources over time. Remember that New York commenced this journey of gender-focused business development nearly a decade ago.
New York and Sydney are the two cities that I have had the privilege of calling home. Both are leading business hubs because they recognize the positive economic impact of women entrepreneurs. The WE Cities Index highlights New York’s tremendous foresight and continued growth in this space. Now may be an opportune time for local policy-makers and business advocacy groups to fully harness the unfulfilled potential of local women entrepreneurs. The WE Cities Index is published in June of each year. I have high expectations that if the correct strategies are now implemented, Sydney may soon challenge New York’s top spot on this important global metric.
About the Author:
Trena Blair is Founder/CEO of FD Global Connections.
