Rather than having their love of travel eat a hole in their wallet and bank account, some female entrepreneurs have found ways to create businesses that help other travelers.
The following are a few of the most intriguing businesses set up by female entrepreneurs:
Grace Lee and WishPoints –
According to Entrepreneur Magazine, Grace Lee found herself globe-trotting to over 85 different countries in the course of her job in the healthcare field. She worked with data aggregation and predictive analytics. She often found herself having difficulty coordinating trips with friends. Her skills with data gave her an idea that she pitched to sponsors of a 2012 business startup competition. Lee won the competition and was able to make it her company a full-time endeavor within four short years.
Her creation, the WishPoints app, has over 3 million users and helps bring together travelers who all would like to go to the same destination. Then, she has the airlines, travel companies and hotels bid for the business of this block of customers. This helps travelers garner significant travel discounts.
Gloria Molins and Trip4real –
According to Forbes Magazine, Gloria Molins was a globe-trotting worker for Google in Sydney, Australia with a six-figure salary when she hit upon an idea inspired by Airbnb. She wondered if she could help travelers to Europe connect with locals who would show them quite a bit more about their locales than the tour guides would. Molins believed that the cookie-cutter approach of tourists seeing the requisite bucket list sites, such as the Louvre and Eiffel Tower in France and the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona, was just too much like being on an assembly line. Her vision was to connect tourists with locals who could show them a more multi-dimensional view of their lives, their area, and their culture.
Toward that end, Molins began Trip4real, a company that allows locals to become entrepreneurs and tour guides. Trip4real connects tourists with the most interesting locals who have unique things to share with their clients, such as a stay at their home and chaperoned help in finding great restaurants and places of interest. Some of the locals take their clients on a tour of their city, looking for the very best ingredients, and then teach them how to cook traditional cuisine in their country. Trip4real has now been purchased by Airbnb.
Chrissy Weems and Origami Owl –
Origami Owl emerged as a business from Weems’ daughter asking her mom to buy her a new car when she turned 16. Weems told her daughter that she would have to create a business, so she could earn her new car. The family began working together, selling jewelry that purchasers could customize at home parties. The finished pieces of jewelry tell a personal story for each wearer about their lives and their values. Often, the process of deciding upon charms to include in the jewelry is cathartic and touching for both the jewelry designer and their client.
As word of mouth about Origami Owl grew, they branched out to a mall kiosk, experiencing even more success. Weems realized that the growth of the business would require having more individuals who would work with clients, creating a customized piece of jewelry for each. Weems has been able to travel around the country, and even appear on a TED talk as an evangelist for the family business. Now, they are expanding Origami Owl to the Canadian jewelry market.
Emily Merson and Global Experiences –
Personally and professionally enriched by a foreign internship experience, Emily Merson created Global Experiences. The company seeks to match foreign companies open to American interns. The latter desire a cultural immersion and work experience in their career field simultaneously. The company mostly places female interns. Their staff, after 18 years in business, has grown to over 30 employees. Each employee has had their own internship experience abroad and is highly motivated to provide such a personal and professional growth experience for others.
The common thread in the inspiration for each of these businesses experienced that led the female CEOs – Grace Lee, Gloria Molins, Chrissy Weems, and Emily Merson – to try to fill a gap that they found not only sated their own wanderlust but also the wanderlust of others. Each of these women-owned companies builds upon the power of social connections and empowers many others touched by their companies and unique offerings