You can't be what you can't see. But the next generation of Australians has new role models as the numbers of female entrepreneurs continue to rise.
Whether they're fed up with the gender wage gap or seeking jobs with more flexibility, increasingly women are forging their own way.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows women make up 34 per cent of all small business operators (668,670 women). This represents a 46 per cent increase during the past two decades.
For International Women's Day we've put together a panel comprising Small Business Minister Michael McCormack, Australian Small Business Commissioner Kate Carnell, Grace Papers founder Prue Gilbert and Council of Small Business of Australia chief executive Peter Strong to nominate the most influential female entrepreneurs in Australia.
"Female participation in this space is on the rise," says Australian Small Business Commissioner Kate Carnell "It's great to see women supporting their fellow entrepreneurs as they chart the course for the next generation of savvy businesspeople to follow."
Here are Australia's nine most influential female entrepreneurs for 2017:
Jane Cay, founder of Birdnest. Photo: Penny Bradfield
Jane Cay, founder of Birdsnest
You mightn't expect an online clothing retailer with more than $20 million in turnover to be based in a rural town like Cooma. But Birdsnest founder Jane Cay is used to going against the grain.
Birdsnest started out as a little clothes store in Cooma's high street in 2004 when Cay moved to the town from Sydney. The former information technology worker launched an online store in 2009 and now employs 140 staff. Her workforce is 95per cent female and a lot of staff work flexibly and part time to fit around school hours and other commitments.
"Yes we are a frock shop, but I think of us as being a customer service business," Cay says. "In a regional area you really have to make the most of the assets you have. I don't want to be any bigger but I realise we have to keep striving to be the best at what we do. If our business can be proof of anything it's you can take a crazy idea and make it work."
Biggest influences: "You don't have to be the smartest or the strongest, as long as you keep being adaptable to change and evolving you can survive and thrive. I always had something that held me back and I thought 'I'm not the smartest in my class, can I really start a business on my own?'. It was just a case of realising you just have to try it. That's been the biggest comfort on my journey when you feel like you are winging it.
Influencing others: Our vision is all about making fashion friendly and empowering and recognising women in their own style. We also had to recognise we were part of a huge problem about how women feel about their bodies. We've partnered with Taryn Brumfitt who made the documentary Embrace and we're assisting with her outreach work. From a business point of view we're looking at what can we do at our level which is introducing more body diversity into our photography and saying that's it for Photoshopping. Not that we did much Photoshopping but we won't even brighten teeth any more."
"I think the best way to influence someone is to believe in them. We do that from the minute a staff member comes in the door. You see a twinkle in someone's eye when you hire them. If you see that twinkle and remind them of that sometimes they see the possibilities they didn't see before."
Ally Watson, founder of Code Like A Girl.
Ally Watson, founder of Code Like A Girl
When Ally Watson moved to Melbourne from Scotland two years ago she started to look out for events and meet-ups in the tech community.
"I'm a developer so it's really important to keep up to date with the latest technology by going along to things," she says. But Watson was put off by the predominantly male events. "I suddenly started to feel too intimidated to turn up."
Watson decided to start a tech event that was female focused and was surprised when 110 people turned up. That was the genesis of Code Like A Girl, a business that runs events and workshops teaching women how to code.
"What was important to me was to keep the events regular, it's all very well to have a one-off event and people get excited but I wanted more than that," Watson says. "I wanted a community of girls where there would be support, networking and the latest technology"
Watson says coding workshops usually cost "an arm and a leg" but she has deliberately kept prices low, near $15 a ticket, by bringing on tech companies as sponsors so more girls can participate.
"Every one of our instructors are girls themselves so we think this helps create an environment that is very motivational," she says.
Watson wants to take Code Like A Girl national and is aiming for turnover of $100,000 this year.
"The ultimate job is to turn this into a sustainable business," she says.
Biggest influence: "My boss. When I came to Australia I got a job at Deepend. It's the first company I've worked for with a female managing director. [Kathryn Blackham] has been an amazing mentor for me and has really encouraged me with Code Like A Girl. She spends a lot of time with me talking about how the business works. She's really taken me under her wing."
Influencing others: "If I'm ever doing public appearances and talks I'm all about breaking down any barriers people might have about technology. I'm probably the opposite of what you'd imagine a programmer to be and I like that. I like to shatter those stereotypes and breaking those barriers. I try to be honest about what I do and make myself vulnerable by talking about my failures. There's a tendency in the tech community not to do that."
Angela Vithoulkas runs a cafe and a radio business. Photo: Louise Kennerley
Angela Vithoulkas, founder of Vivo Cafe and Eagle Waves Radio
There's something a bit unusual about the front corner of Angela Vithoulkas' Vivo Cafe. It's home to a radio booth and it's from here Vithoulkas runs Eagle Waves Radio.
"I am a small business owner and have been my whole life," she explains. "I live and breathe small business. That drove me to focus a lot on advocacy and working hard to have things change for small business. So I built my own radio station to get content out there for small business because there was nothing there."
Vithoulkas now juggles her time between running Vivo Cafe, which turns over "between $2 million and $4 million" and producing and distributing nine shows on Eagle Waves Radio reaching 180,000 small business owners. In her spare time she's also a councillor for the City of Sydney.
"The one characteristic you'll find in every successful entrepreneur is passion; a passion to pursue their dreams, to grow their ideas and to succeed," Carnell says. "Angela is passion personified; her drive and her enthusiasm are obvious from the moment you meet her and this has led to a very successful career, which in turn is now benefiting other small businesses".
Biggest influences: "My mum came to this country as a 15-year-old without any language or skills and she had her first business at 22 and a loan with the Commonwealth Bank without any man underwriting it. I grew up in that business, my dad built me a box so I could reach the till. What I think about is what she gave up to make sure I had every opportunity."
Influencing others: "Most of my staff are half my age. The challenge is how we were brought up and our work ethic and trying to make sure the new generation understands this. Hospitality is known for having transient people, but ours aren't. Hospitality people are unique. We are tough and we breed tough people. It's not for the faint-hearted."
Kristy Chong, founder of Modibodi.
Kristy Chong, founder of Modibodi
After the birth of Kristy Chong's second child she started training for a marathon and "came to the understanding that regular underwear was failing women".
Chong realised she was going to have to come up with a solution herself and so spent eight months developing the fibre technology behind Modibodi, which specialises in leak-proof underwear for active women.
"It can keep a woman dry and fresh and be used as a back-up or total replacement to disposable hygiene," Chong says. She launched Modibodi in 2015 and since then has sold more than 40,000 garments online and through Amazon.com. Turnover this year is estimated to hit $3 million.
Modibodi made headlines launching a campaign featuring Paralympic athlete Rae Anderson. Anderson is the first person with a disability to become an ambassador for an underwear company.
Biggest influences: "I'm involved in the Head over Heels network, which has been an awesome resource for me. It's been the best resource I've been a part of as an entrepreneur. I'm also an alumni of Springboard. Those type of networks where you can turn to people and people have your back make all the difference."
How I influence others: "I'm at the very early stages of my business so I give back within the communities that I'm in. I try to help other entrepreneurs where I can especially because I have a marketing and communications background. It's a focus for me in the future, I want to give back to other women."
Katy Barfield, founder of Yume.
Katy Barfield, founder of Yume
Eight tonnes of Australian salmon left over from Christmas has just been sold and is being shipped to Papau New Guinea thanks to Katy Barfield.
"This is quality Australian produce but it's taking up a lot of freezer space so we found a home for it," she says.
The serial entrepreneur has devoted her career to battling food waste, firstly as the founder of Second Bite and more recently with the launch of Yume Wholesale.
The start-up encourages suppliers such as food distributors, producers and manufacturers to list their surplus sale for discounted sale or donation on Yume. Buyers such as cafes and restaurants can potentially snap up a bargain while helping the environment.
Yume has 200 suppliers and "close to" 600 buyers on the platform. Fifty thousand kilograms of food has been moved through the platform adding up to $500,000 of product so far.
"There is guilt in the food industry that all this food goes to waste and now there has been a sense of relief that this is not the case," Barfield says.
Biggest influences: "What drives me is seeing really systemic problems and market failures and trying to find solutions to it," Barfield says. "A lot of my passion comes from growing up in a family where my grandmother was extremely poor and my mother was one of eight and had to grow most of the food for them in a tiny little plot in the back of her tenement in North London. There was no such thing as waste."
"I am always striving to adjust the balance between the haves and have-nots. I think food is a human right. The planet certainly provides enough for all of us but the control of that is held by too few."
Influencing others: "I choose to lead by example. We are a start-up, we are lean. I travel on the cheapest flights available. You have to be in the trenches and lead your team from the front. I think the greatest thing you can do as a leader in a start-up is make sure everybody is going in the same direction. I run my company in three month sprints. We sit down as a team and set our goals for those next three months. I encourage leaders to listen to what everybody in their company is saying. Too often people come and put their ideas onto a sector or a team or a business idea. The more you can get your ego out of the way the more successful you will be."
Felicity Zadro, founder of Zadro Agency
Felicity Zadro started her communications business 10 years ago "with $5000, one laptop and me in my spare room". She began Zadro Agency on the side while still holding down a job until eventually, "we grew and grew".
Now Zadro employs 16 people and the business turns over about $2 million a year representing "a whole variety of clients" in technology, business associations, finance and not-for-profits".
Biggest influence: I've definitely had mentors along the way. I've used paid business coaches, trusted colleagues and a lot of business books. I worked out very early that the trick to having your won business is to believe in yourself even when you don't have any evidence that you should believe in yourself. You have to have really blind faith that you can really do it.
How I influence others: Mentoring and teaching people how to fish is really key for me. The most important thing for me is the culture that I've created at Zadro is really about sharing and learning from each other. We celebrate our wins, we call people out and say 'You've done a great job, well done'. I think empowering people is very important but making sure they feel supported as well. We try to share what we do with others openly and freely and I try to encourage all my staff to do that as well.
Simone Eyles runs two businesses from Wagga Wagga.
Simone Eyles, founder of 365 Cups and WorkingSpacesHQ
A long-held dream of opening her own cafe led Simone Eyles to develop 365 Cups. The app allows customers to order coffee on their phones and has proved so successful that Eyles ditched her plans for the cafe.
365 cups now has 45,000 users in Australia and New Zealand, and while building the business from her base in Wagga Wagga Eyles also found time to start a co-working space, WorkingSpaces HQ.
The combined turnover of the two businesses is more than $500,000 and Eyles says her regional location has not held her back.
"It's an advantage in today's world," she says. "You can do anything from anywhere so we just get on with it and get to work. We can try and test things. If it works or doesn't work here it's going to be the same as somewhere else."
Biggest influence: I have a tribe of people that support me. I have the Springboard network, Women in Focus and Inspiring Rare Birds. Someone I'm slightly obsessed with would have to be Samantha Wills. She embodies everything you'd expect in an entrepreneur but she is so brutally honest.
Influencing others: "I think I walk the talk. Ideas are easy, it's all in the execution. I encourage people to start now, you will never have enough time or money to get everything right so just do it."
Dominique Fisher, founder of Paddl.
Dominique Fisher, co-founder of Paddl Jobs
When Dominique Fisher's son started looking for jobs she spotted a business opportunity and co-founded Paddl with him.
"It has essentially grown out of his personal experience navigating the change from education to employment," Fisher says. Paddl is a web application designed to help students and graduates build relevant work experience so by the time they graduate they can show employers their proof of job readiness.
"It's answering the question of 'I can't get a job without experience and I can't get experience without a job'," says Fisher.
Paddl launched last year and its business model is based on snaring contracted relationships with educational institutions. Fisher says 300-400 students a week are registering for Paddl accounts and 50-60 employers a month.
Paddl has already been funded to the tune of $3.5 million and is in the middle of a capital raise for another $3 million. Fisher says "it's early days" in terms of turnover but she has big ambitions. "We hope to be a $50 million plus company in the next three years," she says.
Biggest influence: "I've been incredibly lucky to work with amazing people along the way. Having the opportunity to work with people across different sectors brings you perspective. Diversity is the catchword at the moment but diversity in every sense of the world is the key to success as an entrepreneur."
Influencing others: "By sharing what's worked and what hasn't worked. I wish that happened more in Australia. In the entrepreneurial space it's a much more open culture in the United States. But we are getting there."
Ziah Lane, founder of No Issues 
Returning to university to complete a master's degree was a turning point for Ziah Lane. For her final project she came up with the idea for environmentally friendly tissues made from bamboo.
"It did so well that I took my prototype to Woolies," she says. "The buyer loved my idea and helped developed it."
No Issues now has a turnover of $2 million and its range includes toilet paper and paper towels.
"The paper itself is made from bamboo so it is 100 per cent sustainable," Lane says. "Bamboo is such a remarkable product. I can't believe more people aren't finding better ways to do things with it."
Biggest influence: "Greg Roberts was my first buyer at Woolworths, he was the one who gave me the chance and helped me through the process. He was instrumental and is a lovely man. My investor, BigAir co-founder Jason Ashton, has always believed in the concept and making this happen."
Influencing others: "I try to influence younger female entrepreneurs. I mentor through my old school to help them create their own products and guide them through the process. I like to really push education as for me none of this would have happened if I hadn't gone back to university at an older age."
"If you can make a new business, a new idea and a new concept while also having the environment as No.1, I think you'll get somewhere."
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Originally published on The Sydney Morning Herald as Australia's nine most influential female entrepreneurs 2017.
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