Last in, first out: women entrepreneurs are feeling the hit of COVID-19 the hardest

BY CHRISTINA GWIRA

“Entrepreneurs are resilient. Women entrepreneurs are doubly resilient.” This was the line that stuck out to me the most during my recent interview with Sophia Ruffolo, founder of femmebought. femmebought is an online platform, global women’s business directory and education hub connecting women-led businesses to the people who support them, including clients, investors, industry experts, peers and communities. Launched in August 2018, femmebought currently has over 600 members in their directory; more than 10,000 people in their online and offline communities and has educated over 700 entrepreneurs. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, femmebought has been focusing their efforts on finding grants, loans and funding to assist members and female entrepreneurs during this difficult time.

As with many businesses during this trying time, femmebought has been impacted negatively by the effects of COVID-19, nevertheless, they are sticking to their mandate to help and support women entrepreneurs. “I changed my strategy, immediately”, Ruffolo states, “we went from community to support hotline, in some ways.” She strongly believes that, “business isn’t frozen, if we don’t freeze it. We’re freezing it and we don’t have to”. Several entrepreneurs on the platform have converted their in-person businesses into the virtual equivalent. One member who owns a distillery has been creating hand sanitizer and providing it to their Chicago community for free. Another member has taken her fitness classes online, even going a step further to provide online fitness classes for children. “Women entrepreneurs are so resilient. They’re able to convert their business in a matter of minutes and hours, not days and weeks”.

In addition to this, femmebought has released resources for business owners to take their business virtual, without becoming virtual noise. “It’s dark, because, this is just the beginning. […] We’re seeing women entrepreneurs taking a much closer look at their finances”, she goes on to say. A part of the daily resources in which femmebought is providing includes the compilation of a list of Canadian, US and global grants and loans that can be applied to; “we recognize that the Canadian government is offering loans to businesses. We’re waiting for the forms to come out.” Through their research, femmebought has been able to locate several grants and loans coming out for restaurants and those in the hospitality industry, as well as for businesses and those in the performing arts.

Through this effort Ruffolo is noticing a lot of gaps in information regarding what’s out there for female entrepreneurs, “the thing we’re seeing compiling this list is that more and more companies are issuing these grants [and loans], which is amazing, but they haven’t yet had the chance to put the information together for people to be able to apply. So, we’re even looking at grants beyond the COVID-19 relief efforts”. Ruffolo is also speaking with banks, to see what is available for female businesses, along with partners and communities to understand what is needed. Part of Ruffolo’s concern is that the current effort that companies and governments are making, will still leave female businesses out in the cold. Female businesses are the fastest growing number of businesses, as well as being the newest in the entrepreneur ecosystem. As such, more times than not they don’t have the financials to be able to apply for business loans or qualify for relief.

Through all of this, Ruffolo believes that there is a silver lining. She believes that this new normal has the ability to create positive momentum and to make businesses recession-proof. For access to the grants and loan list that femmebought is updating on a daily basis, please feel free to visit the femmebought website at: www.femmebought.com, or connect with femmebought on all social media channels @femmebought.