My mother, a highly intelligent career educator with a master’s degree who is commonly regarded as an exceptional listener and interested in the life experiences of all demographic groups of society, and I have had an ongoing conversation for over 50 years about the spectrum of opportunities available to my generation, especially women, that were not available to hers. For reference, my mother was born in 1943 and I in 1967. She commonly conveys that upon entering adulthood for females of her generation there were essentially four career paths available: teacher, nurse, secretary, or mother. All are valued and needed in society. Executively leading a company or being an entrepreneur was not even on the Bingo Card.
Move forward to present day and the situation is very different. Females can be found in leadership roles and achieving success in virtually every profession including as an astronaut on the Artemis 2 trip in March 2026 (https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/what-artemis-ii) where Christina Koch became the first woman to travel to the moon.
As the owner of a regional mergers & acquisitions firm, IBA, I am happy to report that one of the venues where women are thriving is as entrepreneurs. Wells Fargo’s “The Impact of Women Owned Businesses Report” released earlier this year (https://www.weiimpact.org/research/2026-wells-fargo-impact-of-women-owned-businesses-report) reports that nationally there are 15.7 million women owned businesses presently in America. The figure represents a 12.1% increase from 2022 to 2025. Said another way, approximately 2 million more women own businesses today than four years ago. 2 million people is more than the populations living in the city limits of Seattle & Portland combined.
The report also shows growth for Black and Hispanic/Latino women-owned businesses. Looking specifically at minority women-owned businesses with employees – as those firms generate more revenue and have more growth potential – we see a 37.2% growth in Hispanic/Latino-owned employer businesses and an 18.3% growth in employer firms owned by Black women. Recently, IBA facilitated a transaction where a Hispanic female entrepreneur, Ana Lia Barragan, bought a company represented for sale by IBA. Her story was recently told in an interview with Will Smith on the Acquiring Minds Podcast ( https://youtu.be/qaN_X2AUPl0?si=9Z9zZh1HFfXhEIeR). You cannot listen to the interview and not come away impressed by her knowledge and skill set.
IBA has always welcomed females as business sale intermediaries, sale side clients, and buyers in our offices throughout the Pacific Northwest. I am the first to acknowledge, I would not be where I am today as a business broker if Susan Howard and Jill Nelson hadn’t been willing to mentor me early in my career sharing their knowledge, experience, and helping to enhance my skill set.
The number of female owned businesses IBA has successfully sold is significant. I wish I could share a number, but that is not data we have ever tracked. We can talk about the over 4400 transactions we have expertly facilitated to closing and the spectrum of industries (https://ibainc.com/industries-served/) and geographic areas (https://ibainc.com/areas-served/) where the transactions have taken place. I can share some specific examples of transactions involving exceptional entrepreneurs from our American Dream Achieved series. I encourage you to read the stories of Judith Gille of City People’s Mercantile ( https://ibainc.com/blog/david-garfield/the-story-of-judith-gille-city-peoples-mercantile/), Gillian Mathews of Ravena Gardens (https://ibainc.com/blog/nesha-ruther/the-story-of-gillian-mathews-ravenna-gardens/), Krystal Kelley of Staged by Design (https://ibainc.com/blog/nesha-ruther/the-story-of-krystal-kelley-of-staged-by-design/), Joanna Bruno of J.R. Bruno & Associates (https://ibainc.com/blog/nesha-ruther/the-story-of-joanna-bruno-jr-bruno-associates/), Karen Mollison of Peek-A-Boo Creations and Chasing Treasure (https://ibainc.com/blog/nesha-ruther/the-story-of-karen-mollison-of-peek-a-boo-creations-chasing-treasure/), Tamara Simon of Koss Property Management (https://ibainc.com/blog/nesha-ruther/the-story-of-tamara-simon-koss-property-management/), and Ann Bailey of EcoChem (https://ibainc.com/blog/nesha-ruther/the-story-of-ann-bailey-ecochem/). Philosophically, IBA has always preferred to discuss what we have done rather than what we can do. We remain one of the few M&A firms in the region that operates on a 100% paid on performance business model.. We never seek to collect a dollar from our clients until we have completed our assigned business sale project. It does not matter if the sale is for $500,000 or $30 Million. We only seek compensation when our job is completed. After all, whose mother did not teach them that they had to clean their room before going out to play or finish their vegetables before getting to eat dessert. Mama frequently knows best. At least that was the case in my house growing up and for my kids in ours.
One thing we have also observed at IBA is that frequently female entrepreneurs want to remove the opposite gender from their cadre of trusted advisors. It is not uncommon for a female entrepreneur’s transaction team to include an attorney, accountant, banker, and M&A intermediary of their gender.
When that is the preference, IBA, is frequently contacted as it has the largest, most experienced, most knowledgeable, and highly skilled group of business sale intermediaries in the Pacific Northwest. The group listed based on seniority includes Andrea Lines, Grace Chang, Sally Bergesen, Kate Dare, and Amanda Kennedy. Sally Begesen was “Best in Class” at IBA among our approximately twenty brokers in 2026 (https://ibainc.com/blog/gregory-kovsky/sally-bergesen-named-ibas-2025-broker-of-the-year/).
If you are a female entrepreneur considering the sale or purchase of a business in 2026, we would welcome the opportunity to learn about your transaction objectives and provide an overview of our professional services. All communication with IBA is held in strict confidence.
IBA, the Pacific Northwest’s premier business brokerage firm since 1975, is available as an information resource to the media, business brokerage, mergers & acquisitions, real estate, legal, accounting, banking, and wealth management communities on subjects relevant to the purchase & sale of privately held companies and family businesses. IBA is recognized as one of the best business brokerage firms in the nation based on its long track record of successfully negotiating “win-win” business sale transactions in environments of full disclosure employing best practices.