What does ‘success’ mean for women in business, and who gets to decide?

As a business owner, what do you consider success to be?

Is it a profitable and sustainable model? A secure role for your staff? Truly living your values and making a difference in your community?

Or is it survival during a global pandemic, and some of the toughest economic conditions imaginable?

Does success mean dollars in the bank and big-name investors on your cap table? The founders I interview almost universally say no.

Yet in the ecosystem and the media alike, it’s these latter announcements that get all the attention.

For women-led business in particular, which in 2021 attracted just 26% of all the funding invested in Australia, that means less of the limelight, even when they’re breaking down barriers and hitting big milestones.

Pre-pandemic, Jeanette Cheah, our guest editor for International Women’s Day 2022, headed up Hacker Exchange, a business that generated its revenue by offering educational overseas trips for students and entrepreneurs.