More and more women are running their own businesses, according to the Louisiana Census Report. And this growing trend is proving to be profitable for the state.

Esther Rabb she just wrapped up her first year as owner of Esther's Heavenly Sweet Things in Bossier City. After retiring from her state job of thirty years she decided to make her dream come true and become a business owner. As a small business owner, she has faced many challenges to get her business off the ground.

"There are long nights, early, early morning hours, it's financial struggles that come your way, sometimes customers come, sometimes they don't", Rabb says.

It's estimated that Louisiana has more than one hundred and nine thousand women-owned firms, contributing just more than twenty-four billion dollars to the state's economy. Nationally, the number of businesses has increased by 50 percent. Louisiana is ranked sixteenth in the growth of the number of women-owned firms. Read more...