Now it’s easier to discover and support female-founded businesses. Today Yelp announced that it partnered with Rebecca Minkoff’s Female Founder Collective to launch a “Women-Owned Business” attribute on Yelp.
Female Founder Collective has more than 3,000 members including the founders of Drybar, theSkimm, ThirdLove, LOLA and The Wing. The goal is for members to connect and support each other socially, legally and economically and to increase revenue for female-led businesses by increasing awareness, according to a statement.
When Minkoff started Female Founder Collective in 2018, she created a symbol that companies can use on everything from shop windows to social media to designate that they are female-led. Female Founder Collective members automatically have Yelp’s new “Women-Owned Business” attribution, but any business owner can update her Yelp page.
“We’re excited to be bringing more useful information to consumers and partnering with women like Rebecca Minkoff who are creating and fostering real-world communities to elevate female entrepreneurs,” says Liina Potter, a spokesperson for Yelp.
“In working with a major corporation like Yelp, we’re underlining our unified goal to close the economic divide,” says Minkoff, “Using Yelp to shine a spotlight on female-founded businesses garners consistent support for them and stands at the core of this partnership.”
Women-owned businesses in the U.S. employ almost nine million people and generate more than $1.6 trillion in revenue, according to 2018 SCORE data. Women also typically invest up to 90% of their income back into their families and communities, the World Economic Forum finds, so supporting women-owned businesses will benefit communities.
