On average across 15 European countries, only 11.2% of women who started a new enterprise in 2002 had run another business before the start-up, compared with 18.4% of men (Eurostat, 2008). In the United States in 2007,42% of male business owners and only 28% of female entrepreneurs had previous self-employed experience (US Census, 2009). For example, data on new enterprises for France show that 73% of the businesses founded by women in 2006 with three or more years of previous experience were still running three years later.