Originally published on Business Insider by Jennifer Ortakales, March 8, 2020
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Today is International Women’s Day, which celebrates the accomplishments of women around the globe and is a call to action in gender parity.
Female founders may not receive as much venture funding as their male counterparts, but they’re more likely to start businesses, according to a recent report by Visa.
In honor of women who are shaping business and leadership, we’ve rounded up 13 female founders who started their companies by themselves and drove them to success.
These women worked, pitched, applied, and saved their way to the funding they needed to grow. Today, they maintain full ownership of their businesses, or otherwise share ownership with their cofounders. They bootstrapped their companies without outside investment (though some may take equity soon).