Southland Leads U.S. in Firms That Women Own

Kaye Bass has come a long way from the days when she answered phone calls and took messages as a receptionist for a Whittier construction company.

At 51, the shrewd but soft-spoken Bass runs a thriving Huntington Beach pie and bakery franchise that rang up nearly $3 million in sales last year--just seven years after she opened her first bakery on Balboa Island in Newport Beach.

Bass, a mother of three, grandmother of six and president of Katie McGuire’s Inc., is one of a growing number of female business owners in Southern California, a hotbed of female entrepreneurship. In fact, Southern California’s coastal counties make up three of the nation’s six largest centers of women-owned businesses.

According to a federal survey released this month, Los Angeles County led the nation in the number of women-owned firms, with 162,417. Orange County ranked third, with 54,367 companies, and San Diego County ranked sixth, with 47,450. The figures are for 1987 and are the latest available.

The number of women-owned small businesses jumped 38% in Los Angeles County, 46% in Orange County and 51% in San Diego County between 1982 and 1987. That contrasts with a national growth rate of 58% during the same period.

The survey shows that sales for women-owned small businesses in Los Angeles County were $10.8 billion in 1987, up from $3.8 billion in 1982. In Orange County, sales grew to $3.3 billion from $1.1 billion, and in San Diego County, to $2.2 billion from $890 million.

According to a ranking that will appear in the November issue of Savvy Woman magazine, Southern California has four of the nation’s 60 largest women-owned and operated businesses. They are: Jenny Craig, president and chief operating officer of Jenny Craig International, Del Mar, weight-loss programs, ranked 10th; Paula Kent Meehan, chairwoman of Redken Laboratories Inc., Canoga Park, personal care products maker, 18th; Carole Little, co-chairwoman of California Fashion Industry, Los Angeles, apparel manufacturer, 23rd; Kathyrn G. Thompson, chief executive and president of Kathryn G. Thompson Development Co., Aliso Viejo, real estate development, 31st.

The U.S. Small Business Administration estimates that by the year 2000, half of all self-employed individuals in the nation will be women. Female business owners now compose a third of the nation’s small businesses. In Orange County, female entrepreneurs already make up slightly more than half of small-business operators.

As more women entered the work force in the 1980s, the number of women starting their own companies also grew. Many of the women who start businesses once worked as middle managers for large corporations, experts say, but grew frustrated when they felt locked out of senior management positions. Others are women who spent years raising families and, once their children were grown, decided to go into business.

Women-owned businesses have thrived in Southern California, in part, because the region “is a very female-friendly place, very supportive of women entrepreneurs,” said Kristin Kleppe, founder and president of the Banking Institute, a 400-student Los Angeles vocational school.

However, many female business owners say that Southern California’s relatively supportive environment does not solve the problem of juggling family duties with the heavy demands of running a business. A number of successful women entrepreneurs credit their success to the emotional support their families provided at the start of their venture.

UC Irvine management professor Judy Rosener last year completed a study of female entrepreneurship in Orange County that found that the county’s women entrepreneurs shared a similar profile: They worked for larger companies, were well-educated, independent-minded and relatively secure financially.

Experts say that a desire for independence is a common trait among women who start their own businesses. Nationally, twice as many women as men start their own businesses, according to the SBA.

For many women who are not wealthy or financially independent, one of the biggest hurdles to starting a new business is raising the money to get started.

Erni Davis, president of a Costa Mesa medical placement firm, quit nursing after 30 years to start her own company. She found the going exceedingly tough. Lenders wouldn’t talk to her, nor could she find a mentor to help her get started.

“No one knew me, and I was starting a business in an area that I was totally unfamiliar with,” she recalled. “I have not been knowledgeable in how I can get financing.”

Using her personal savings and aggressively pursuing clients, her work finally paid off. Her business, Davis & Associates, had sales of $190,000 last year.

“If I were to do it over again, I’d like to first get a line of credit from a lending institution,” she said.

While lenders have opened up to female business owners in recent years, the threat of a national recession does not bode well for business people as lenders tighten up on credit, said Elizabeth Valega, deputy director of the SBA’s Office of Women’s Business Ownership in Washington.

To counter the credit pinch, some women’s business organizations are stepping in and providing financial support and advice for their members. And more female business owners say they count heavily on support from their families.

“I just think it would be physically and emotionally impossible to succeed in a business if a woman didn’t get family support right from the start,” said Bass, of Katie McGuire’s.

Bass, who runs 17 pie and bakery franchises in California, said that although her schedule keeps her busy, her family comes first.

“I have instructed my staff that I can be interrupted if ever any member of my family calls,” she said. “I have learned to turn everyday problems into challenges, meet those challenges and not burn my cookies and pies along the way.”

GROWTH OF BUSINESSES OWNED BY WOMEN

U.S. Census Bureau figures sketch a portrait of woman and entrepreneurship in the Southland. Los Angeles County ranked No. 1 nationwide in terms of the number of women-owned firms, followed by Orange County, ranked third nationally. The data, gathered in 1987, was released this week.

WOMEN-OWNED FIRMS IN THE SOUTHLAND IN 1987

Los Angeles

Sales: $10.8 billion; Rank: No. 1

Orange

Sales: $3.3 billion; Rank: No. 3

San Diego

Sales: $2.2 billion; Rank: No. 6

San Bernardino

Sales: $853.0 million; Rank: No. 29

Riverside

Sales: $920.2 million; Rank: No. 33

Ventura

Sales: $552.8 million; Rank: No. 47

OWNERSHIP BY TYPE OF BUSINESS

The great majority of firms owned by women in Orange County was concentrated in the service industry, followed by retail trade. 1. Selected services: 31,468 2. Retail trade: 8,124 3. Finance, insurance and real estate: 7,177 4. Industries not classified: 2,628 5. Wholesale trade: 1,470 6. Manufacturing: 1,353 7. Transportation and public utilities: 953 8. Construction: 703 9. Agricultural services, forestry, fishing and mining: 491

LEVEL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Orange County has the Southland’s highest concentration of women entrepreneurs, as a percentage of the female population. Orange Co.: 4.8% San Diego: 4.2 Ventura: 4.1 Los Angeles: 3.7 Riverside Co.: 3.4 San Bernardino: 2.9 Source: Bureau of Census, California Dept. of Finance, Demographic Research unit