From Niles’ SLR Pilates to Dowagiac’s Deck the Halls and Cassopolis’ Artisan Shoppe, business in southwest Michigan is having a serious girl-power moment.

This week is National Business Women’s Week, and it is high time we gave our female business leaders some much-deserved praise.

The first observance of NBWW was April 15-22, 1928, and since 1938, it has been hosted during the third full week in October. During the first NBWW, Lean Madesin Phillips, president of the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, said the goal of the week was “to focus public attention upon a better businesswoman for a better business world.” In 2002, Cheryl Grazier, executive director of the Missouri Business Women’s Council, said its purpose is “to recognize women who have been the cornerstone of working in business in the United States in the past and to examine how far women in business have come.”

Come a long way we have. Today, the U.S. is home to more than 12.3 million women-owned businesses, generating $1.8 trillion in revenue per year and making up 40 percent of American businesses. Compare this to 1980, when a Small Business Administration study reported only 2.5 million women’s businesses in the U.S., according to a February 1984 New York Times article.

It’s crazy to think how much women-owned businesses have grown in less than 40 years. Not only have we come a long way, but we also continue to grow with more and more women-owned businesses opening each year in our communities. From Brew Ha Ha to Lifestyle Nutrition to Healthy Habits to the Dough Parlor to Pizza Transit to the Marshall Shoppe to Odenwald Marketing Strategies and to many more, there are almost too many to count.

These small businesses — not large corporations — are leading the charge to diversify the economic landscape and pave the way for others to enter into the business sphere. And for that, our local women entrepreneurs deserve a pat on the back.

I would encourage everyone to show some support to your favorite women in business this week. They are leading a wave of change in southwest Michigan.