Female entrepreneurs are flying under the radar

Only six companies founded by women made it into BRW’s Fastest Growing Companies list for 2009. One of the reasons women are so under-represented is that fewer women enter the prestigious business awards. As a group, women tend to downplay their achievements and are reluctant to step forward and claim the credit when they do perform well. But is it just a lack of confidence, or are female entrepreneurs flying under the radar?

According to this year’s youngest and highest ranking female entrepreneur in BRW’s Fast 100, Roberta Faddoul (pictured), female entrepreneurs are achieving much more than we realise, it’s just that many women are accumulating their successes under the radar of the wider business community and the press. Read more

Gina Rinehart is Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year 2009

Georgina Rinehart (pictured), Chairman of Hancock Prospecting, has been named the 2009 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year at an awards ceremony in Melbourne. In addition to the National Business Woman of the Year Award, Rinehart also won the Commonwealth Bank Business Owner Award.

Commenting on her award, Rinehart said: “In being honoured with this award, I pay tribute to the many thousands of Australians working in the pastoral, mining and resources industries of which I am proud to be a part. It’s exciting to witness the increasing role of women in these businesses, particularly as we enter a new era in international relations.” Read more