Women's Initiative: Where Dreams Become Thriving Businesses

Friday Linkblogging: Microenterprise

• May 20-23 will be the first National Summit on Entrepreneurship in Anaheim California. More information is here.

• ABS-CBN News Online has an article about how a Filipino foundation is helping to break the cycle of migrant overseas labor by helping Filipinos to start businesses at home.

• The Citi Foundation and the SEEP Network are partnering on a new three-year $11.2 million international grant program "to advance the integration of microfinance inot the mainstream economies of developing countries."

• U.S. News and World Report online has some tips for how to steel your small business against recession. The main one is to keep marketing!

When money is tight, it's tempting to hold on to what you have and not worry about expanding your brand. But if you stop advertising and marketing, you'll do your business serious harm.

• Here's a terrific blog called How I Changed The World Today, about a woman's daily efforts to make the world a better place. She's been doing a lot with KIVA and international sponsorships so check it out for ideas for yourself, if you need any.

• Even the music industry is getting in on the microcredit action!

• And finally, this article in the Mercury News about Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, Barack Obama's mother, tells us that she spent the latter part of her life working in microcredit in Indonesia.

She became a consultant for the U.S. Agency for International Development on setting up a village credit program, then a Ford Foundation program officer in Jakarta specializing in women's work. Later, she was a consultant in Pakistan, then joined Indonesia's oldest bank to work on what is described as the world's largest sustainable microfinance program, creating services like credit and savings for the poor.

Monday Linkblogging: Women Entrepreneurs

• The Gulf Daily News has an interview with Huda Janahi, the first Bahraini woman to receive the GCC Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Getting a commercial registration (CR) was the biggest obstacle as I was told at the Labour Ministry that only males were allowed a CR for cargo businesses. However, there was a misunderstanding. When I joined the United Nations Development Organisation (Unido) for its Arab Regional Centre for Entrepreneurship and Investment Training (Arceit), I told them my problem and they said there was no law that stated that women cannot get CRs for cargo businesses. They advised me to go to the ministry after they contacted officials there and soon I was granted a CR.

• An article in the Maryland Gazette.net features Jennifer D. Collins, recently honored by Enterprising Women magazine.

Jennifer D. Collins had been steadily growing the event-planning company she started in 1997 until the hospitality industry was hit hard by the 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. People stopped traveling to hold meetings, so she had to tap into her communications expertise to also provide clients with meeting strategies to keep her business afloat, she said.

• Entrepreneur.com has an article about women getting MBAs not to work at corporations, but to run their own businesses.

To be sure, getting your MBA isn't a prerequisite for becoming a successful entrepreneur. But one thing is for certain, at least according to our sources at some of the nation's top-ranked MBA programs: Whether you're looking for a program with the best professors, the best classroom experience or the greatest opportunity for women, business schools are the place to be--especially if you are interested in innovation, entrepreneurship and real-life case studies.

• Business Opportunist blog posts about niche marketing for home-based businesses:

You don’t have access to viable means and amenities to compete directly with large business houses and serve a broad spectrum of consumers. In such an adverse business scenario, niche marketing emerges as the most feasible and cost effective strategy that can help home business owners to stay ahead of their competitors and maximize their profits.

Wednesday Linkblogging: Women Entrepreneurs

• Patty Briguglio was named 2008 Enterprising Woman of the Year by Enterprising Women Magazine.

• Nancy Marmolejo at Vivavisibility.com has some tips on how to get yourself out there. It's a great marketing blog from a Latina entrepreneur, so check it out in general.

• Rolling blog has a long, passionate post about the state of women in India.

Reality is women are still unsafe, insecure, jobless and weak from malnutrition. She continues to be repressed, forced to abort her children, and if allowed to give birth at all, to abandon her own flesh and blood or face social ostracization unless society approves of the way it was conceived. She still cannot adopt easily, she cannot sign for her own surgery (kisiko saath mein layein hain aap?) or admit her children to school if the father refuses to acknowledge them. In most cases she is still deprived of her father’s property on one flimsy pretext or the other. She still can’t rent a house easily if she is alone in a strange city. (People think she is going to have sex and produce illegitimate babies or generally create some trouble or the other

• Know Your Place blog has a post about what you are doing with your voice. It's a woman entrepreneur blog, so check it out.

• Tulsa World has an interview with Yvonne Hovell, the only African American female Chrysler dealer in the country. Here's a little insight into owning a franchise.

• And another franchise owner, Carol Sluys of Snohomish County, has turned her Curves franchise into a base for health evangelism.

How To Avoid Being Blindsided In Business

An interview from First Wives World with Amy Dorn Kopelan, Executive Director of Coach Me, which:

teaches women how to "master the subtle skills and unwritten rules" necessary for career advancement and leadership. The COACH ME Institute specializes in group coaching, business education, and professional development programs that target emerging talent. COACH ME's research-based curriculum gives women the edge to maximize their individual potential and nurture their initiative. The Institute helps companies develop and retain their bench strength inside the corporation.
COACH ME targets:

• Women with talent and promise who cannot afford professional coaching on their own
• Women in middle management or first-line managers who want to take on leadership roles
• Women from underserved multicultural populations who want to leverage their unique talents

She's marketing a book on this topic, but there's some good advice about taking power in this video.

Friday Linkblogging: Women in Business

• Mary Robinson was the keynote speaker at Woibex 2008, the tenth annual Global Businesswomen and Leaders Summit, in Dubai.

“Every development expert knows that, in order to have stable development, you must empower women and girls,” she said. “Businesswomen have an important role to play in development because every successful woman encourages another.”

She added that it was very important that leaders think globally and act locally. “We have to be interconnected internationally but we have to make a difference in our own environment.”

The event also hosted the Seventh Middle East Businesswomen and Leaders Achievement Awards.

• The Fort Worth Business Press has an interview with m strategies inc. founder and CEO Michelle Smith.

I’ve always made a point to continue to promote diversity in my firm, from women, men, black or white – every kind of thinking and disciplines. For me, being a woman has not hindered me at all, in fact it has kind of added to the diversity mix I like to keep at the firm. And I think it is incumbent upon a leader to send in a different kind of person to close a deal. It doesn’t always take a woman’s touch – sometimes it takes a man’s. But to have that depth on your team really helps.

• Via Anne Reeves' blog: Country Living magazine's annual conference Women Entrepreneurs: A Celebration of Creativity, which happens in Chicago this weekend. (Sadly, the conference is already sold out.) But check out the profiles of women entrepreneurs on the site.

• The Minneapolis Star Tribune has an interview with three businesswomen about women's challenges in the workplace.

How far have women come in the workplace?

Carlson: With the Fortune 500, not very far. We've gone from one CEO in the last 20 years to 10 CEOs. But if you're talking about women in small businesses and as major shareholders of companies, it's astonishing. In that perspective, women are finding ways to lead and contribute.

• Emirates Business 24/7 reports that Hydra Properties is developing a new skyscaper in Dubai called "Eve's Tower," which will only allow woman-led businesses to lease space.

The 20-storey project is also offering cheaper rents in order to attract more interest from women-only companies.

... men are not banned entirely. Companies are allowed to have male employees, but women will take priority and have certain privileges, including their own lift and the opportunity to set their own rules.

... "the ultimate goal of Eve’s Tower is to provide women with an environment that tends to their needs, allowing more comfort and freedom,” he says, adding that it will also act as a forum for female executives.

Eve’s Tower is the first project of its kind, not only in the Middle East but anywhere in the world. The developer plans to introduce the concept to other cities in the future.

• An article in the Arizona Republic turned us on to the Make Mine a Million $ Business program:

Make Mine a Million $ Business is a program of Count Me In for Women’s Economic Independence — and founding partner, OPEN from American Express®. The program provides a combination of money, mentoring, marketing and technology tools that women entrepreneurs need to help grow their businesses from micro to $millions.

The program's goal is to "inspire one million women entrepreneurs to reach annual revenues of 1 Million $ by the year 2010." Count Me In is a national nonprofit MFI (microfinance institution) offering women loans of up to $45,000. Taking part in the initiative involves signing up for their online community here.

• Russia Today wants us to know that Russia has more female-owned small businesses than any other country in the world.

Elena Safonina ... says the country’s unique geographical location and some quintessentially Russian character traits define the country’s female entrepreneurs.

“Russian women are not quite European and at the same time not exactly Asian. Since our country is somewhere in between these parts of the world, our women manage to combine rationality with being highly expressive and creative,” Safonina says.

Some say female-owned businesses in Russia are less likely to become the leaders in their sectors as women focus on creating a family-like atmosphere rather than stifling their male competitors.

Hmmm ... we'll take the statistics, but we're not so sure about the "analysis."

• The Taipei Times reports, based on an online study they conducted, that sexual harrassment at work remains a top concern for working women in Taiwan.

The results showed that 61.5 percent of the respondents said they were worried about sexual harassment. Responses to further questions revealed that 37.2 percent of them had been victims of sexual harassment.

The survey showed that 37.4 percent of the victims chose not to seek help.

"In Taiwan's work environment, [sexual harassment victims] can't just stand up and report the case," Jennifer Wang, director of the committee, told a news conference at the TBA. "If you do so, you'd likely be forced to leave your work." Survey results support Wang's remark.

• And finally, speaking of sexual harrassment, Japanese Police blog tells the story of a Japanese woman business owner who was hit up by a cop for free massages, and then hit ON. Naturally, the cop was a police inspector in charge of monitoring the sex industry. It seems she might have been vulnerable to this cop because her business was operating illegally but this is unclear.

Monday Linkblogging: Microenterprise

• Bill Clinton addressed a fundraising group in Toronto, speaking about the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, which includes microenterprise development in Latina America. He said:

"The world is bedeviled by three great crises: persistent and growing inequality in economic opportunity, education and healthcare; the insecurity caused by our interdependence, making us all vulnerable to terrorism and weapons of mass destruction; and, the unsustainability of our current developmental course because of the threat of global warming

... Ironically, addressing the problem of inequality will help us to deal with the other two crises. It will remove the resentments and hatreds and divisions that fuel so much of the violence in the world. And if we have a truly sustainable economic process, it will reduce the threat of climate change."

You can watch the speech here.

• Food for thought: the Christian Children's Fund participated in a panel about youth and economic development in which they addressed the need for specialized microenterprise programs for youth.

Miller emphasized the need for youth specific programs such as early parenthood and HIV/AIDS. “Micro-finance and self-employment in the informal sector offer an opportunity that is appropriate in post-conflict and other challenging environments where formal employment opportunities are limited,” Miller said.

Miller says there is often a mismatch between the skill sets of youth and the skills needed by businesses in the formal sector. As a means to bridge that gap, Miller highlighted the importance of pairing vocational skills training with broader life-skills, such as resource management, communication, confidence building and decision making.

• A  new link for our blogroll: USAID's Microlinks.

microLINKS is a dynamic knowledge-sharing Web site designed to improve the impact of USAID-funded microenterprise programs and activities. Created through USAID’s Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project, microLINKS allows the Microenterprise Development office to share cutting-edge research with microenterprise development and financial services practitioners, USAID Mission staff, and other interested individuals and organizations while also serving as a meeting place through which visitors can share their own experiences and knowledge.

• Those of you businesspeople selling online in New York should be aware that the state is planning on taxing online entrepreneurs:

If you offer an affiliate program for websites to sell your products, you might want to become aware of a plan afoot by the State of New York to tax you.

If you sold $10,000 worth of products to those in the state of New York and had one Web affiliate in New York, under the proposed plan you’d be required to collect and remit sales tax to local taxing authorities in the state.

That could add a significant bureaucratic burden.

• Selena Maranjian of Mutual Funds blog has a great post about what form your money should take. She quotes an article on microcredit by in the Wilson Quarterly by Karol Boudreaux and Tyler Cowen, which states:

A cash hoard kept at home can be lost, stolen, taken by the taxman, damaged by floods, or even eaten by rats. ... Under these kinds of conditions, a cow (or a goat or pig) is a much better medium for saving. It is sturdier than paper money. Friends and relatives can't ask for small pieces of it. If you own a cow, it yields milk, it can plow the fields, it produces dung that can be used as fuel or fertilizer, and in a pinch it can be slaughtered and turned into saleable meat or simply eaten.

She goes on to point out that while in the west, people keep their money in more cash forms, they can also lose it by spending. Check out the post for great ideas on ways to turn your money into ... more money, rather than spending it.

• And finally, the Mail & Guardian Online has a terrific article about Muhammad Yunus' turn toward "Social Business"

Grameen is one of the most famous brands in Bangladesh; there are 27 Grameen companies ranging from the country’s biggest phone firm to one supplying affordable healthcare. All aim to alleviate poverty and, in time, the plan is to convert them into social businesses. Among all this innovation, Yunus’s step has faltered only once. A year ago he announced he was going into politics to deal with Bangladeshi corruption, only to withdraw two months later, horrified by what he describes as “dirty, violent and greedy” politics. The bruising experience has reinforced his lack of faith in the state and the political process to meet the needs of the poor; instead he emphasises the entrepreneurial skills of the poor.

This kind of thinking finds an enthusiastic audience, particularly in the US, as it appears to offer a capitalist answer to development without asking for increased aid. Yunus insists there is still a need for aid.

Holiday? Get Marketing!

Now that crazy Valentine's F – e – b – r – u – a – r – y is over, I'm taking stock:

lots of pink and red candy boxes, hearts, funny to raunchy gag gifts (see edible panties), sappy movies (some classics, some duds), high hopes or no hope at all for some corny-cheesy-but-oh-so-wonderful expression of love. 

But I have the feeling that you are like me and that you want something a little more substantial than this – something that will last. 

Diamonds? 

Better! 

I’m going to give you the best post-Valentine’s Day gift a small business owner can get: down-and-dirty marketing tips – that work!  I had a lot of fun taking the strategies so pervasive in V-Day campaigns of big companies and putting my little, indie, DIY*, spin on them.  I hope you enjoy them, too!

Tracy’s Guerrilla Marketing List for the DIY business woman:

Materials:

• Postcards and or flyers that promote your company
• Printable labels that fit nicely on one side of the postcard
• Attitude

1. Design your campaign content, (for Valentine’s Day, I came up with a “’buy one, get one free’ throughout February” pitch that I printed on lables and and stuck on the back of about 500 postcards
2. Identify key locations to distribute your cards

Suggested locations:

• Local Weeklies (newspapers) – they come out every Wednesday or Thursday
• Cafes
• Bookstores
• Giftshops
• Community Centers
• Colleges
• Anywhere where people post postcards or flyers

Strategic tips:

• If you get up and get to the newsstands early, you can get your materials in them before readers pick them up.  Target neighborhoods with shops you want to sell in and/or people you want to sell to (for example, I’m promoting my book “be seduced! (the cheeky guide to being happily single)” – so I put flyers in cafes and weeklies in neighborhoods that seemed to have a significant number of singles).


• Most cafes rotate flyers out on a regular schedule.  Find out when they rotate them out, so that you get the most out of your time/effort – and – so you know when to re-post them


• Many bookstores have bulletin boards that are pretty open to any content – look for those that seem to serve your target audience and post regularly


• See the angles – populate a calendar with holidays and other significant dates and then plan your GM (guerilla marketing) strategy to capitalize on them (i.e., next month has International Women’s Day – how about offering a special in honor of it or something for the ladies?)

And did you know?...

If you have a Washington Mutual Small Business account, you can put up an advertisement on a 6” tall easel spotlighting your business for one whole month at select locations?  (For Free!) (I have one up now at the Lakeshore branch.) The easel has a shelf where you can put postcards, business cards, or whatever you like, which is a great way to get people to look at your site, visit your shop and/or get in touch with you about your services.

Got GM tips and successes? Post a reply, share them with us and let’s keep the momentum going!

Best and best!

--- Tracy Watson, Publisher – Our World Books – books that inspire falling in love with your life!
(WI grad ’06)

* Do it yourself

Friday Linkblogging: Women Entrepreneurs

• Online Athens has an article about the Athena Awards, honoring strong women leaders in business.

About 25 years ago, a successful Michigan business owner was invited to serve on the board of directors of her local chamber of commerce. Martha Mertz discovered that women had virtually no seats at the chamber's table. ... Stung by that realization, Mertz ... founded Athena International, the Chicago-based organization that provides support and encouragement to female business leaders, most visibly in the form of the Athena Award, given in more than 500 communities.

Click here for this year's nominees, and here for the awards' website.

• Utah's The Spectrum has an article about women business owners highlighting the trend of self-employment among Utah's working women:

Between 1997 and 2006, the number of privately held, majority (51 percent or more) women-owned firms in Utah increased by 47 percent, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Women's Business Research. From 1997 to 2004, Utah had the fastest growth rate in the nation for women-owned businesses.

• CBS 11 in Dallas/Fort Worth has an article about "mompreneurs":

Baby Einstein DVDs were created by one. So was a Dallas-based make-up giant. Stay-at-home moms are proving they can do more than raise children. Those who've done it say all you need is a good idea, great support and a little faith. Then you'll be well on your way to becoming a "mompreneur." ... Mompreneurs are beginning to flood the marketplace with new products and services. Patricia Cobe, coauthor of the book "Mompreneuers Online," estimates there are more than 10-million in the U.S.

• Lorissa at the All Things Girl blog has posted some resources for self-employed women, and especially for web designers.

If you are a woman business owner, freelancer or entrepreneur, don’t be shy to toot your own horn! Don’t be shy to say, “Hell yeah, I rock!”. Don’t be shy to let people know what you do. ... Yes, that’s right - spread the word about your work! Get heard! Get seen!

• Carol Davenport-Moncel posts about small-business in-house PR on Sarah Bashaw's blog:

Do small-business owners always have to rely on large PR agencies to get attention from the press? An entrepreneur recently asked me this question during a networking event for women business owners. Of course my answer was, "No," but not for the reasons one might expect.

Ultimately, I do believe the time comes when a company needs professional guidance from a PR agency -- be it a large or small one -- to secure media coverage. But I also believe that a really media savvy small-business owner, or a two-person marketing team can do a fantastic job in promoting an organization. Here s how I know it can work.

Read on for some good tips.

• And finally, check out this new blog called "Boutique Industry" by Ohio writer and shop owner Abby Kerr. She describes the blog thus:

A Boutique Industry speaks to creative women everywhere who have a desire to cultivate entrepreneurship within themselves, and particularly those drawn to shopkeeping. With the pathos and comedic timing of a screenwriter and the heart of a teacher, Abby shares the ups and downs, the joys and pratfalls, and the decisions and moments of destiny that go into starting and running a creative business of one’s own.

Maybe one for your bloglines!

Monday Linkblogging: Women Entrepreneurs

• Siam BBS Weblog has a Top Ten Women Entrepreneurs' Empowerment Tips list. These include "Enlightenment" or faith in a higher power, empowerment of self, balance in family life, and the power of networks.

• Black Enterprise has an article about Dr. K.H. Wang, the businesswoman behind the Smart Reader preschool learning system.

"The objective of being an entrepreneur is, of course, to make money. But immediate profit is not the objective. Money is not the be it and end all. Your business must be able to affect change for the better," affirms this successful woman entrepreneur.

• Check out the new GWN Lifestyle: The Online Magazine for the Woman Entrepreneur. "GWN" stands for Girls Who Network.

Our mission is to help women create the lives they love and deserve. Life becomes a lot easier and much more fun when you have money in the bank. Once finances are taken care of, it is amazing to see the wild, crazy, and outrageous lives women lead. That’s what life is all about, right? Having the BEST time of your life!

• And finally, check out this interesting article from the San Francisco Chronicle about entrepreneurs making New Year's Resolutions for their businesses. The article isn't specific to women entrepreneurs, but all the examples they use are from women:

Two years after starting a business making healthy frozen meals for young children, San Franciscan Jill Litwin resolved that 2007 would be the year she introduced her products at a trade show.

... But simply renting a booth would cost $4,000. Outfitting it with high-quality displays would be another $10,000 to $12,000, which was more than she could afford.

So Litwin came up with a creative do-it-yourself solution. A designer friend used PVC pipe and Velcro to create a beautiful booth for free. Litwin drove it down to Anaheim in her jeep. Her mother flew out from Milwaukee to help staff the booth.

... The upshot? Litwin landed a national distributor, which had been her second goal for the year.

Friday Linkblogging: Women Entrepreneurs

• Lisa Angelettie of Buzz Marketing Blog talks a bit about "spiritual" or "conscious" business ownership:

Many business owners, online especially, are showing that the definition of a truly successful business owner is one that is creating wealth, but not at the expense of his/her conscious, values, interests, belief system, etc.

• Deborah Leary has won the World Association of Women Entrepreneurs' International Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award for 2007. She is the "founder and CEO of Forensic Pathways, a leading international provider of forensic business intelligence, products and training."

An impressive list of government agencies and international companies use Forensic Pathways' techniques to uncover serious risk, crime and threats. Her company is spearheading advanced forensic analytics, which is increasing in importance in a global climate of concern over identity, terrorism, money laundering, fraud and national/international security at all levels. Deborah is a key supporter of cross border data sharing and knowledge flow between international government and private organisations.

• More Than We Know blog posts an interview with Louise Geaney, Irish "mompreneur" and creator of Go Mums,

a resource site for all busy mums- it is home to Ireland’s first podcast show for Mums and also to the Daily Planner for Mums on the Go. We recently held our first day-long workshop for Mums, with our second workshop to run in early December!

• Fulham WI posts about Danielle Dunn and her English bath and body company Fresh Deli, who offer moms a more flexible working plan. Dunn "has been shortlisted for ‘Young Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’ at the North East Women Entrepreneur of the Year Awards 2007."

• And finally, 93660 blog posts 7 Ways work-from-home women Can Improve Your Personal & Financial Well-Being:

1. Stay connected to your desire and have a clear picture in mind of exactly what you want to create.
2. Especially if you're a home-based woman entrepreneur, GET ON THE OTHER SIDE OF YOUR DOOR!
3. Always nurture your femininity and continually bring out the Queen in you.
4. Receive support spiritually and psychologically
5. Stay connected to friends and colleagues overseas.
6. Get active
7. Be your own best friend.

There are great resources sprinkled throughout the post, so go check it out!