"The 1990's will be the decade of women." Wu Cheng-hung, president of Master Mind Consultants Co., minces no words, and quite a few others share her view.

Before jumping to conclusions, why not take a look at some statistics from other countries? One third of all small and mid-sized businesses in Canada are now owned by women, and one fifth in France. In Britain the number of women entrepreneurs has increased three times faster during the past decade than the figure for men. And more than 4.5 million women have started up businesses in the United States. . . .

As for the R.O.C., according to the Office of Statistics in the Executive Yuan, the number of small and medium-sized businesses that are owned by women and were "on file and registered" in 1988 exceeded 33,000. If all the "small-capital operations" that are unlicensed and unregistered were added to that, the total would certainly be far greater.

A successful career has traditionally been a man's concern. So why are more and more women willing to leave the safety and security of being a housewife, an employee or a manager and shoulder the burdens of decision-making and the risks of bankruptcy in running their own businesses? The answers are various. Interestingly enough, the reasons most often cited by women in Europe and North America generally fall under the categories of consciousness-raising or a search for greater independence, but a relatively high proportion of women on Taiwan consider running a business just another extension of their devotion to the family.

In analyzing the factors that lead women in Taiwan to start up businesses, Taily Yu, chair of the business training section of the R.O.C. Youth Career Development Association and a veteran of eighteen years' work experience herself, has found that among the most prevalent are such unambitious-sounding reasons as "opening an individual workshop or doing business at home so I can look after the children at the same time" and "making use of my years of experience as a housewife to run a nursery school or hold classes in cooking or flower arranging."

Another family factor spurring women to found businesses is divorce or the death of their husband.

Sad to say, thirty years ago if people saw a woman working outside the home, their first impression was usually "that woman has been left by her husband and has no one to depend on." Thirty years later, the same kind of tragedies are still being reenacted. Carol Chang, director of the Taipei Women's Development Center, has seen many women forced to reenter the job market or start up a business because of the loss of a husband. Some are resentful and faltering, but others are determined to accept their fate and go on to build a career of their own.

While the number of women who start up businesses for family reasons has never declined, a new wave of women entrepreneurs is being formed by ambitious and highly motivated "new women" with an eye on self-development and personal achievement.

"The conditions provided by the social environment are fairly well matured; women-run businesses are an unstoppable trend," says Wu Cheng-hung. Given Taiwan's current high prices and high rents--unless they are willing to accept a lower standard of living--it's natural that women work outside the home to help foot family expenses. And since women are no less qualified than men in terms of either education or ability, the thinking that "I know the job, so why not be a boss" applies to them as well.

Nonetheless, no matter how widespread they may appear to be, most businesses founded by women remain at the "mini," embryonic stage.

"After all, building up a business takes time," Wu Cheng-hung points out. In the top 500 firms in the country, there are just ten women at the level of general manager or above, most of them heiresses or titular figures only. Astute women captains of industry who run firms with hundreds of employees will probably remain the stuff of novels for the near future at any rate.

According to the conventional wisdom, women setting up companies for the first time face less risk by choosing "a line of business related to the special characteristics of women themselves." Taily Yu of the Youth Career Development Association has put together a handbook of suitable types of businesses including fast food restaurants, tea houses, beauty parlors, etc.

But even if they take part in traditional lines of business, the new generation of women entrepreneurs is clearly different from the generation before them.

"Women these days are more particular about business aims. When women set up a noodle shop or a flower shop before, they were mostly forced to by the circumstances of life--opening a store was simply a tool for earning a living. But now they're more aware of just what they want and don't want," Taily Yu indicates. They want to create a certain style, for instance, or achieve certain operating objectives, which were rarely heeded by women before.

Not only have traditional fields been infused with new meaning, women have also been active in newly rising "leading-edge" lines of business.

In his book Megatrends 2000, John Naisbitt points out that as the industrial age gives way to the approach of the "information age," there are more and more opportunities for women to excel. Indeed, facts show that in the R.O.C. at present a host of advertising, businesses management, sales, public relations, design, finance and news media firms have gradually become strongholds for women, perhaps because of perceptions in school that "men are better at science and engineering, and women are better at the humanities."

The writer Liao Hui-ying pointed out in an article of hers that women can sometimes rely on intuition and sensitivity to discover new lines of business that men have neglected or simply not noticed in the Past: "Women's businesses aren't established to cater to men and don't steal men's jobs. They're designed to give full rein to women's special strengths, and men can't adequately fill in and replace them." She thinks that jobs in male society are already reaching the saturation point, but that fertile fields remain for women with the ambition to found businesses of their own.

Looking into the future, women entrepreneurs have another advantage going for them: according to a U.S. best-seller that came out at the end of last year called Growing A Business, the industrial age of the past was built on mass production and quantity, but the key to success for businesses in the future will be service and quality. The niche for agile little firms that are streamlined and quick to adapt has vastly increased. Most women's businesses are small-capital ventures, and serving others and looking for quality are habits instilled into women from a young age, so in this regard, the market for women's businesses should continue to expand.

Companies that are new and just getting off the ground have to be more innovative in terms of service. One women's fashion store, for example, provides after-sales service with the slogan "Bring your clothes back to mama!" No matter whether it's a button that has fallen off or colors that are beginning to fade, the owner will do all she can to restore clothes that have been bought from her to their original splendor.

Comparatively speaking, although women proprietors also worry about costs and revenue, they tend to pay more attention to goals and ideals, where men are more wrapped up in profits.

In fact, sociologists point out that women don't face as much social pressure to succeed and support a family as men do, and so paying attention to ideals and self-realization is indeed one of the characteristics of women's businesses. An interesting observation: when men who own businesses get together they talk about revenues, growth rates and investment plans--numbers and dollar signs fill the air--but when women who own businesses get together the "stench of filthy lucre" is much less noticeable.

One reason women can be less preoccupied with money it that most of them stick closely to their capital and operate within their means. Wang Huichun, a women's occupational planner, points out most traditional small businesses require very little initial capital: just NT$200,000 or NT$300,000 for opening a flower shop and NT$1 or NT$2 million for a convenience store. Those figures are all within the scope of women's "private nest-egg" savings, or at most after pooling the resources of a few friends or seeking a low-interest loan from the National Youth Commission. Very few women take out big loans and then go under because they can't meet payments.

As for the newly rising "pure-intelligence" service industries, what they rely on is knowledge and experience and even less on invested capital. Grace Yuan, who is the vice president of the Interplan Consulting Co. and is "responsible for everything--I even saved money by not hiring a cleaning lady," says that firms like hers that provide information services depend on expertise, not capital flow. "I won't make a bundle but I won't lose my shirt either."

And Sharon Liu, who has run her own business for six years but still lives at home with her mother and commutes every day on the bus, is quite philosophical about making money: "I earned back my initial NT$4,000 in capital a long time ago. All I ask now is that the good Lord has seen my hard work, and I can keep on carrying out my ideals!"

As you can see, women's businesses mean more than just "the emergence of the other half of the work force" that economists and population experts see. Their humanistic values and significance to society are also well worth pondering.

[Picture Caption]

Huang Su-o (far right). who maintains that "being a housewife is my real occupation, running a business is just an amateur pastime," is a director of the Youth Career Development Association.

Sharon Liu, who founded a business six years ago, has remained at the same location she with, because she wants "to keep reminding myself how tough it was in the beginning."

Once they learn the ropes, salesclerks may pool together and buy the store they work in--another popular way for women to acquire small-capital businesses. This former salesclerk is now an owner. (photo by Diago Chiu)

"Romantic" businesses like coffee shops, teahouses and flower shops are favorite choices for women entrepreneurs. (photo by Diago Chiu)

After Grace Yuan gave a seminar on women starting up businesses, members of the audience stayed behind to ask questions.

Esther Huang has a number of business interests. Here she instructs the salesclerks in her gift and jewelry store on how to beautify their appearance by making the most of clothing, shades of color and posture.

Wu Chu-ting (lower right), who went from boss's wife to boss herself, has made a name for herself in the field of teaching yoga. (photo by Diago Chiu)

Sharon Liu, who founded a business six years ago, has remained at the same location she with, because she wants "to keep reminding myself how tough it was in the beginning.".

Once they learn the ropes, salesclerks may pool together and buy the store they work in--another popular way for women to acquire small-capital businesses. This former salesclerk is now an owner. （photo by Diago Chiu）

"Romantic" businesses like coffee shops, teahouses and flower shops are favorite choices for women entrepreneurs. （photo by Diago Chiu）

After Grace Yuan gave a seminar on women starting up businesses, members of the audience stayed behind to ask questions.

Esther Huang has a number of business interests. Here she instructs the salesclerks in her gift and jewelry store on how to beautify their appearance by making the most of clothing, shades of color and posture.

Wu Chu-ting （lower right）, who went from boss's wife to boss herself, has made a name for herself in the field of teaching yoga. （photo by Diago Chiu）