Growth of mumpreneurs to soar in 2010!

This month, we’re focussing on all kinds of trends to come out of 2010 (and even the next decade) and it comes as no surprise that the first trend to emerge this year is the birth and growth of mumpreneurs.

That’s what we love about BT Tradespace; it gives us so many insights into ‘what’s occurring’ in the business world. We first foresaw this trend when we did we ran our article, ‘How to be a mumpreneur success’ – which focussed on the fact that where kids and parenting once meant giving up work for women (and some men), it now opened up a world of opportunities creating a trend of working mums/mums in business.

But come 2010 and having kids seems to go along with starting up your own business. It seems the flexibility of working from home and following your passions/dreams is too much a lure for us mums.

BT Business recently did some research via Netmums which revealed one in 10 mums aspire to have their own business, with one in five looking to have more flexibility on choosing the hours they work. Nearly 15% of women have already started their own businesses since having children proving that ‘mumpreneurs’ are a growing force in the UK economy. Whichever way you look at it, working mums will increasingly ditch the 9 to 5 in favour of being their own boss.

This 2010 trend is also resonant of the fact that actually the social web has changed things for us. Women dominated this space for personal needs but ‘mumpreneur wannabes’ soon realised the potential of this medium and are now harnessing its power to find a revenue stream to fit their lifestyles. 44% of respondents BT Business surveyed felt that the emergence of online social networks is creating more opportunities for working mums (or non working ones) to go into business today.

The benefits of being a mumpreneur are many. Choosing the hours they work (62%), achieving a better balance between their work and family life (50%) and being their own boss (38%) were the top 3 most cited reasons.

As for the kinds of businesses they’re running? Kids toys, kids clothes, hand-made toys and the like seem to be top of the list when it comes to the mumpreneur businesses we’ve seen on BT Tradespace but there’s also the support angle where mums in business are thinking of ways in which they could help other working mums and dads as inspiration for their start-ups.

If you’re a working mum, we want to hear from you! What’s your story? Do you want to connect with other working mums and mumpreneurs? If so, leave a comment or post in our ‘working mums community’ now because supporting you is what BT Tradespace is all about… because trends or not, we think mumpreneurs rock!

Our top mumpreneurs on BT Tradespace

• http://brecklandorchard.bttradespace.com/
• http://qualiteet-shirts.bttradespace.com
• http://prbasics.bttradespace.com/
• http://mimimyne.bttradespace.com/
• http://ethicstrading.bttradespace.com/
• http://enhance-me.bttradespace.com
• http://vanillabakery.bttradespace.com/
• http://jennycooper.bttradespace.com
• http://miglio.bttradespace.com/
• http://petalsandpicnics.bttradespace.com/
• http://birthaffinity.bttradespace.com/about-us