WIFI & Women-Owned Businesses
For my first blog entry for the WIFI website, I decided to look at a few statistics about women-owned businesses in the U.S. What I found was encouraging, although clearly there is still much work to be done.
As of 2013, government figures estimate there are roughly 8.6 million women-owned businesses in the country, generating more than $1.3 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.8 million people. Obviously, women-owned businesses have become serious competitors in today’s global markets.
On a smaller and more personal scale, I serve as the executive vice president of Hudson Fasteners Inc., a family owned business. The owner’s family history in the industry dates back to 1936, when the company was known as Brooklyn Nut & Bolt, which then became Hudson Nut & Bolt in 1946. Today, Hudson Fasteners is three generations strong and 100 percent women-owned.
Pam Berry, the president of the WIFI organization, is a second-generation owner of a fastener distributor, and WIFI’s board chairman Mary Lou Aderman, is also a second-generation fastener company owner. Thinking of these successful women got me wondering. How many women-owned generational fastener or fastener-related companies are there? What impact will these women have as more of them enter the industry in executive, decision-making roles?
In recent years, we’ve seen significant advancement of women in the fastener industry. Jennifer Friel, president of Mid-West Fabricating Co., became the first woman chair of the Industrial Fasteners Institute in 2011. The Industrial Fasteners Institute was founded 1931 and it has had 61 men head the fastener manufacturing organization.
Women in the Fastener Industry (WIFI) was formed in 2009 to help advance, educate and mentor women in our industry. That in itself was a significant development and the organization is already having an impact through popular events at industry functions, scholarships and networking throughout the year.
More than any other time in the history of our industry, women are making their presence known. We need your perspective -- keep this movement going by sharing your story! @FastenerWomen #WeCanDoIt #WIFI #WomenSucceed
Cris Young, EVP Hudson Fasteners
