Why Mentoring Pays Off
March 21, 2007
Mentoring programs are increasingly being used to promote and speed up women’s success in the workplace and in their own business…Manly Daily, March 2007
Media Release – Australian Businesswomen Work the Web
March 13, 2007
Australian Businesswomen Work the Web
The Australian Businesswomen’s Network uses latest
web-based learning to reach businesswomen all over the country
Sydney, 13 March, 2007 – Australian businesswomen now have a virtual place to learn business skills, meet and exchange ideas and best practices. WebEx, the leading provider of on-demand applications for collaborative business on the web, has been selected as the web-based meeting platform for the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s MentorNet program.
MentorNet (a six-month program for women business owners funded by the Australian Government as part of their Building Entrepreneurship in Small Business program) supports businesswomen through business education, networking and mentoring. The program is the first national mentoring program for women and combines online meetings and the latest in learning technologies. Leveraging the unique capabilities of WebEx, MentorNet will provide 180 small businesses throughout Australia mentoring via its web collaboration platform.
Suzi Dafnis, National General Manager of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, was determined that geographic location shouldn’t restrict opportunities for Australian businesswomen.
“We are a national organisation and I want women in business, no matter where they are, to have access to good business education and mentoring. WebEx allows us to do that; it’s an easy to use, collaborative platform that can be accessed from anywhere in the country with an Internet connection. Business owners aren’t just based in Sydney or Melbourne. With WebEx women in Darwin can easily meet with women in Taree or Wagga. Australia is a vast country and with the aid of on-demand services such as WebEx, MentorNet can deliver a mentoring and networking opportunity regardless of your physical location.”
The MentorNet program includes a series of structured business skills training, small group mentoring and peer support.
Dafnis explains why WebEx is such a hit with the program.
“Webex goes beyond the staid PowerPoint presentation. It allows much more interaction. We use WebEx for all synchronous work (such as content delivered by business experts) as it’s a way to learn and share information as a group – while minimizing valuable time out of the office for the small-business owners. It is also a platform for teamwork; the interactive online platform drives productivity in a less traditional and more collaborative way. It takes the isolation out of the distance learning process –mentorees are actively involved with the presentations , which helps their learning process.”
Kevin Mackin, the Australian Director for WebEx sees WebEx as a highly interactive web meeting platform.
“The beauty of WebEx is its interactivity. Traditional PowerPoint presentations can be quite dry… but with WebEx the facilitator can invite mentorees to raise their hand if they have a question, check a box if they haven’t understood a question, have an instant messenger-type chat with colleagues or the facilitator or even write directly onto the slides for everyone else to see. It makes the presentation much livelier and more relevant to each of the individuals involved.”
“WebEx users demand quite specific applications and features. This drives a constant evolution for the technology that keeps WebEx in such a strong position and a favourite with our customers,” added Mackin.
Frost & Sullivan recently named WebEx as the leader in collaborative web meetings in the ‘Asia Pacific Web Conferencing Services Market CY 2005’ study.
WebEx currently offers a free 14-day trial of its award-winning WebEx Meeting Center service. For more information, or to sign up for the free trial, please go to, http://webex.com/go/autrial
WebEx provides on-demand collaboration applications to individuals, small businesses and enterprise organisations. WebEx applications combine both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration capabilities and enable businesses to leverage the web as an efficient channel for interaction with customers, partners and co-workers. WebEx Connect, the first collaborative on-demand platform, enables developers and customers to integrate multiple applications to create powerful collaborative business “mashup” solutions from web-based, on-premises and desktop applications. WebEx Connect brings together people, process and data in a collaborative workspace designed for the way businesses work today.
About WebEx
With more than 2 million registered users, WebEx is the global leader in on-demand applications for collaborative business on the web. These applications enhance high-touch business processes, such as sales and training, with efficient web-touch interactions. As an on-demand provider, WebEx is able to facilitate both internal and external collaboration. WebEx delivers its range of applications over the WebEx MediaTone Network, a global network specifically designed for the secure delivery of on-demand applications. WebEx is based in Santa Clara, California and has regional headquarters in Europe, Asia and Australia. Please call toll free 877-509-3239 or visit http://www.webex.com for more information
About the Australian Businesswomen’s Network and the MentorNet Program
The Australian Businesswomen’s Network is a national network of women business owners. The organization provides business education and networking opportunities as well as mentoring using the latest technologies to reach women in even the most remote parts of Australia. To find out more about the MentorNet program, visit www.inspiringwomen.com.au
WebEx and MediaTone are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of WebEx Communications Inc.
Just Can’t Get Enough – Vive Magazine
March 8, 2007
Meet the serial entrepreneurs: the women with one bright business idea after another.
Online Mentors – BRW Magazine
March 8, 2007
More women are taking advantage of online education and networking programs to assist in career advancement. The March 8 issue of BRW Magazine featured this story on the growing popularity of these programs and highlighted the innovative MentorNet Mentoring program.
“EMentoring is growing in popularity, with several new programs being launched in Australia. They Australian Businesswomen’s Network, funded and run by BRW Young RichList member Suzi Dafnis, wom a agrant in 2005 from the federal government to set up an e-mentoringprogram for businesswomen around Australia.
ABN has developed a collaborative system including web seminars, blogs, the ability to share web articles of interest and a feature that allows women to publish and gain feedback on their business plan.”
Learn more about Mentornet, here.
Why Mentoring Pays Off – Manly Daily Newspaper
March 4, 2007
She said amentor filled a combination of roles. ‘‘It’s someone you can share your fears and dreams with and then plan how you want your future,’’ she said. ‘‘A mentor can keep you on track and provide great moral support because everybody hits a point where they think they can’t do something and it helps to have someone in the background to get over whatever the
blockage is that is holding you back.’’
Women given online access to mentoring – Financial Review
March 1, 2007
Australian businesswomen will now have access to good business education and mentoring no matter where they live…
In this article Damien Lynch of The Financial Review profiled the MentorNet program and the way it was created to allow mentors and mentorees for all over the country to participate using the latest social media and learning technologies. The Australian Financial Review, March 2007
Wanted: Mentors – Vive Magazine
March 1, 2007
The benefits of mentoring contributes to a workplace are undisputed, particularly when it’s women mentoring women.
In this issue of Vive Magazine Suzi Dafnis, Community Director of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network explained how the online mentoring program, MentorNet is being especially useful to women in business in country and rural areas of Australia.
