Mompreneurs

Mothers who can’t find sufficient healthy food for their children are taking matters into their own hands, according to Dale Buss of the Wall Street Journal. These women are combining their knowledge of children with the need for healthier food to create small businesses that focus on healthy snacks and organic baby food. In his article, The Mothers of Invention, Buss describes these “mompreneurs” as women who are using this opportunity as a “chance to achieve a work-life balance they never found in the corporate world.”

At Women’s Initiative, 27% of clients are single parents. Many working women face the struggle of providing care to their children while financially supporting themselves and their families. Flexible work schedules through self-employment can help provide a solution, although balancing work and family life is still not an easy challenge.

The “mompreneurs” in Buss’ article are still facing challenges, including how to maintain growth and adapt to market needs in a weak economy.

By 2007, 70% of mothers with children under 18 participated in the US labor force (compared to only 47% in 1975). Self-employment can provide women with confidence, financial independence, an outlet to take full advantage of their skills and give back to their community, and an opportunity to create flexible schedules to balance work and family.

With an economically depressed economy and high unemployment rates (10% nationally and 12.4% in California), this need for new strategies to achieve self-sufficiency is growing. Today, Women’s Initiative graduates more than twice as many women annually than 5 years ago.