Tory Burch is on a mission to create more unicorns.
No, not the mythical, single-horned creatures. She’s setting out to help her fellow women entrepreneurs achieve billion-dollar revenues for their businesses – as she has for the fashion line that bears her name – and has just announced a commitment to grow the number of women “unicorns” by 2030.
“Our core mission is to increase women’s economic power, and that’s by supporting the entrepreneurs and their businesses in a way that their businesses will last,” she said in an interview with Fortune magazine about the new pledge, which was also publicly announced at a recent breakfast event honoring domestic media mogul Martha Stewart.
The introduction of Covid into our lives created a heightened need for this sort of effort, Burch continued. It’s true – women-run businesses were hit harder by the pandemic itself, and the resulting economic fallout, than ventures run by men. Burch felt these effects, too, ultimately closing 340 brick-and-mortar locations for her fashion line due to Covid’s impacts.
Then again, women business owners have always faced an uphill battle, traditionally struggling to access capital and grow firms that can hire employees. “It’s very, very tough,” Burch told Fortune of the economic climate women entrepreneurs are now navigating. “We have to take it one day at a time, and also keep cash on the balance sheet.”
The entrepreneur, whose eponymous foundation has been helping women entrepreneurs launch and scale businesses since 2009, added that she wants to see an array of women entrepreneurs thriving to the degree that she is. “It’s very important for people to know that diversity is what I find beautiful – and also good for business.”
By making an intentional commitment to lifting women’s businesses, specifically, into the financial stratosphere, Burch aims to live out those values. Though at the end of the day, it’s admittedly not the world’s biggest risk – as Burch noted (and research has proven): “Women are great investments.”
