Phyllis Newhouse had served her country with distinction. Having joined the military as a young private, she’d risen through the ranks to become a command sergeant major, protecting national security against cyber espionage. But after two decades of service, it was time for Phyllis to contemplate the future.

With a prestigious portfolio of cover shoots and projects to her name, she was preparing to take the next step by going freelance. But then one day in late 2007, she gave it all up.

Women entrepreneurs are behind a growing number of today’s most innovative start-ups across multiple industries. When it comes to raising capital to grow new ventures, though, the picture is not nearly as bright. Female founders encounter many more hurdles at the fundraising stages of their journey owing to entrenched gender biases.

Among those to have broken these biases is Michelle Kennedy. Having held top executive positions at dating platforms Badoo and Bumble, she decided to launch her own social networking app. Peanut focuses on fertility, pregnancy, motherhood and menopause. Michelle’s mission is to make her app the leading network for connecting women when they need each other most.

A magazine for girls? Sorry, but that’s ridiculous, it would never work! she was told flatly. Girls of that age here in Mexico don’t read much, and besides, they certainly don’t have the money to spend on magazines.

Although only a recent recruit to the media industry, Gina was undeterred. Instead, she went away and came up with a name, a logo and a prototype edition of the new magazine she’d conceived.

It took her several more attempts, but her persistence finally paid off. To me, the opportunity was very clear, even if almost no one else could see it, says Gina.

I think it’s something like less than one third of family businesses that make it from the first to the second generation and half of those don’t make it to the third generation, says Adriana Cisneros. I’m the third generation in our business, so I really hope I’m going to be one of those that survives. Who knows, I might completely mess up, but hopefully not.

Messing up seems a rather unlikely prospect going by Adriana’s record to date. The company is in robust health under her leadership. She has recently returned from a whistle-stop tour of Central and South America, where Cisneros Interactive has become the sole reseller of Facebook in nine countries, the only nations on earth where the social media giant will not manage its own sales.

Facebook chose to work through Cisneros Interactive because it already has the region’s most advanced advertising network. I started Cisneros Interactive, our digital division four years ago, says Adriana.

Our aim from the outset has been to create the largest advertising network in Latin America and also the smartest. When we began, others were trying to do similar things, but in a very country-specific way. No one really dared to do it pan-regionally. I used the same architecture to build the business that my father did when he brought satellite television to Latin America three decades ago.