A border with a female seal. The economic power of women entrepreneurs uniting Mexico and the United States

Nearshoring hasn’t just moved factories—it has unveiled a generation of women entrepreneurs operating and scaling on both sides of the border. With logistics infrastructure at its peak—Laredo inaugurated in late 2024 a new CPKC railway bridge doubling cargo capacity across the Rio Grande—women are now taking strategic positions in value chains, services, and technology linking Mexico and the United States. This expansion of infrastructure is not merely technical data; it’s a highway of opportunities for women-led firms.

The macroeconomic backdrop supports the story. In 2024, Mexico surpassed $400 billion USD in bilateral trade with the U.S. at record speed, and by 2025, it maintained a historic surplus, confirming that the region is consolidating as a single productive market where binational women entrepreneurs find scale, suppliers, and customers without changing time zones.

Business indicators show clear progress. In the United States, women-owned businesses accounted for an estimated 39.2% of all enterprises in 2024, with growth outpacing that of men’s firms by 11.6% since 2019. The Latino wave adds momentum: Hispanic owners already represent 14.5% of total business owners, with double-digit annual growth, opening space for more female leadership across traditional and high-growth sectors.

On the Mexican side, the numbers tell a similar story. According to ENAFIN 2024, 29.5% of businesses are owned by women. In the microenterprise sector—where most cross-border supplier ecosystems are born—women now make up the majority of the workforce, driving commerce and services that feed into export industries. These figures align with Mexico’s economic fabric, where micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises represent 99.8% of all economic units.

But the story is not just about volume—it’s about sophistication. Data from the World Bank show that when women entrepreneurs cross into male-dominated industries—advanced manufacturing, logistics, ICT—they outperform peers in sales and productivity, and increasingly operate with an export-oriented mindset. The GEM Mexico survey reports that 7 out of 10 female entrepreneurs planned to further digitalize their business, though only 1 in 8 had clients abroad—a gap that binational businesswomen are now closing.

In venture capital, 2024 sent mixed signals. Startups with at least one female founder in the U.S. raised $38.8 billion (+27% year-over-year), yet their share of total deal value declined, and the number of transactions reached multi-year lows. The capital exists, but it does not flow equitably. Still, structural change is happening: the proportion of women in decision-making roles at VC funds has nearly tripled in a decade, reaching 17% in 2024—a crucial shift, since those who sign the checks often redefine which ideas—and which founders—get funded.

Public and academic levers are also being activated on both sides of the border. Programs like the U.S. Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE)—with nodes and partners in Mexico—and consular initiatives like Mexicana Emprendein border cities have created networks, mentorship, and binational regulatory support to help entrepreneurs graduate ready to export or open LLCs in Texas, Arizona, or California. These aren’t symbolic efforts: they reduce learning costs and shorten the path to market access.

There is also a powerful cultural layer across the border: networks of “Binational Women Leaders” connecting talent, social capital, and influence within productive ecosystems such as El Paso–Juárez, Imperial Valley–Mexicali, and Laredo–Nuevo Laredo. In territories where maquiladoras explain a large part of the local economy, these networks serve as incubators for sophisticated suppliers and executives who turn industrial experience into their own business ventures.

So, what lies ahead for 2025? Three challenges define the playing field. First, access to capital and credit: the funding gap persists in Mexico and VC asymmetry continues, especially for all-women teams. Closing it requires more female investors and sector-focused funds (in healthtech, clean logistics, applied AI) with binational strategies. Second, talent and technology: women’s participation in STEM careers remains low—barely 14–20% in many Mexican universities—yet demand for engineers in automation, cybersecurity, and data analytics will surge as nearshoring corridors expand. Solutions will depend on company–university alliances and border-based certification programs. Third, regulatory certainty and cross-border facilitation: with the USMCA review approaching and trade hitting record levels, single-window systems, sanitary compliance, and agile customs procedures will be key for women-led SMEs to invoice in dollars without friction.

If 2024 taught us anything, it’s that real integration happens not in speeches but in paid invoices and faster trains. Binational businesswomen have already done their part: with scale, data, and networks, they are changing the rules of the game. Now, it’s time for capital and public policy to move at their speed.

Written by: Editorial

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