Recession spurs ‘lipstick entrepreneurs’

The recession is accelerating growth of a generation of “lipstick entrepreneurs” who will reshape society and change the way people work, according to a report published on Tuesday.

It predicts that the number of female enterprises could double in10 years, taking the total of self-employed women running businesses – from single-person ventures to more substantial ones – to more than 2m.

“We will see more female board members and millionaires. The pay gap and glass ceiling will become obsolete and the workplace will become more female-friendly than ever before,” argues the report by the Future Laboratory for Avon, the direct seller of beauty products, and the Federation of Small Businesses.

Self-employed women have seen their numbers rise 17 per cent to more than 1m since 2000, the report says. Now, a tipping point has been reached for women who “through desire and necessity” decide to set up enterprises.

Redundancies have led many to conclude that self-employment no longer offers less job security than full-time employment, and could in fact offer more, it says.

Often, the move has been spurred not by a woman’s redundancy but that of her partner, because unemployment has risen faster among men than among women. That can lead to women taking an extra job or starting a business and becoming the sole breadwinner.

It also points to the rise of role models who have founded businesses such as Michelle Mone, of the Ultimo lingerie brand, Natalie Massenet of Net-a-Porter, the online fashion retailer, Laura Tenison of JoJo Maman Bébé, the children’s clothing business, and Chrissie Rucker of The White Company, the luxury goods group.

The Direct Selling Association, whose members include 312,000 self-employed female representatives, said it had seen a year-on-year increase of 15 per cent this year.

Jeremy Baker of ESCP Europe Business School, one of the report’s contributors, forecasts that in addition to there being more female entrepreneurs, the number of female chief executives at FTSE 100 companies would increase from just five in 2008 to more than 50 over the next decade.

He also predicted that the number of female MPs would double over the next 10 years from 126 to 252.

Theresa May, shadow work and pensions secretary, another contributor to the report, said: “We need to present far more positive role models to women so they think: ‘Yes, I can do that too.’ ”

The report describes several types of “lipstick entrepreneur”. They might have opted out of a career to strike out on their own, stepped up to protect their family’s finances, run a business in addition to a full-time job, worked from home to juggle career and family, or turned a hobby into a business. They range from self-employed school leavers to some who are beyond retirement age.

The web has made it possible for women to set up small businesses and work from home in a way that was not possible in the past, the report says.

It adds that female ­enterprises will redefine when, where and how we work, and will “put an end to the part-time/full-time distinction, as work will become increasingly task-driven”.