Networking ‘across the pond’ provides more opportunities for Aussie women

Yesterday I met with the new President of the New York City chapter - National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). NAWBO is a national US organisation for (as the name implies) women business owners.

Having lived and worked in the US I know that doing business in Australia is very similar to doing business in the US. The challenges we face as businesswomen, are similar.

For those of us growing a business the main issues remain:

• How do I market my business and improve my sales?
• How do I become a better leader?
• How do I make a profit?
• Where can I go to be with like-minded women?
• What does it take to have work/life balance?
• How to do I navigate legislation that makes doing business hard?

NAWBO, like the Australian Businesswomen’s Network, provides training, networking and access to role models.

So, over a coffee at the well-known Dean and DeLuca cafe at the Rockefeller Centre, Pat Ahersy and I discussed how we can work together to improve services, education and networking opportunities for our members.

And, we talked about how powerful it would be for ABN members to connect with NAWBO members and to cross-network and do business across the Pacific Ocean.

As part of the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s commitment initiative to be at the forefront of access to development opportunities for businesswomen we will continue to develop links and find ways to help our community connect with the right people, across the globe.

Stay tuned for developments.

Aussie women support the development of business owners in developing countries.

During Women’s Business Week (held in March to coincide with International Women’s Day) the Australian Businesswomen’s Network raised funds to support entrepreneurs in developing countries. Members contributed donations through a silent auction and a series of business webinars. Here are the women who we are currently supporting through these donations.

I share their stories here to demonstrate the parallel between business owners in all countries. Our circumstances may differ (immensely) but our spirit and our goals are often similar.  Education, inspiration and networking and connections are the common elements to our success regardless of our location.

Chea Yarn Nheb, 57, is a widowed woman who runs a business on her own as a food (green papaya and some other types of vegetable mixed together) and soy-milk seller living in the Battambong province; she typically makes US$6 every day and is aided by her daughter who works in a garment factory with an income of US$3 per day.

Nheb wants to operate another business for her family members to generate more income to cover her family’s expenses and to save more income to repair her house. That is why she has approached CREDIT with a request for a loan. Nheb is asking for a loan of US$1,000 to purchase clothes, a purchase that she sees as a good opportunity to resell them at a fairly profitable price to increase her income.

Sra. Leticia is married to Sr. José Ramón, who is a pensioner. They have a grocery store called “Abarrotes Leticia” (Leticia’s Groceries), which has been in operation for one year. They are a close family. Their daughter Yesenia works in an office as a data entry operator. Sra. Leticia’s income goes toward the family expenses.

Her loan will be used to buy merchandise for her family business, which will increase her earnings.

Doña Rosario Tzoc is 28 years old and lives with her husband and children. She is a merchant who sells traditional clothing. She and her husband work in the same shop with their two employees. For the past 8 years, they have been operating their business from home in Paraje Xolcaja in the Poxlajuj sector of Totonicapán District, Guatemala.

Now that customer demand has increased, they are not in a financial position to increase their capital. For this reason, they have approached Asociación ASDIR to request a loan. They intend to buy raw materials needed to increase their sales. Doña Rosario hopes that her family will get ahead and have better living conditions.

Mrs. Maria de la Luz lives with her husband, Mr. Adrian Villrreal, who is on pension. Mrs. Maria has her own business called “Abarrotes Imax”, which she established a year ago. This business is turning a profit, and she already has her own regular customers. The family is seeking a loan for investment in the purchase of additional merchandise in order to continue meeting the needs of their customers.

Kémé Diaw, age 39, is married and has 6 children to support. She sells refreshments, and also sheets and curtains at home. Her income enables her to pay electricity bills and to increase her working capital, in order to better provide for her family.

You can make a donation at kiva.org.

The Australian Businesswomen’s Network community initiatives have raised over $40,000 in donations to support women around the world.

Global Summit of Women Review - Join us next year in Beijing

Last year I attended the Global Summit of Women in Vietnam. This year’s conference was in Chile just a couple of weeks ago. The Australian Businesswomen’s Network has been a partner of the summit for many years and today we received this lovely message from the president of the program - a woman who has, for 19 years, committed herself to helping women gather around the world to network, learn and be inspired.  Next year’s conference is in China and we plan to take a group of women along to represent Australia. More news as soon as we have details. We’d love you to join us.

I would like to extend my appreciation for Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s participation as an International Partner to the 2009 Global Summit of Women held in Chile this May.  We are proud to count you among the 84 partners from 50 countries who supported the Global Summit of Women this year.  Your partnership with the Summit contributed greatly to the diversity of our Summit ‘family’.

There was a great deal of excitement at this year´s Summit, partly as a result of coming together in such large numbers during a most difficult time globally.  We are receiving very positive comments from government ministers, corporate executives and entrepreneurs alike for an exciting, dynamic global forum, which featured some of the best and the brightest women from different parts of the world. Your support plays a critical role, because in addition to sending delegates to the Summit, our partner organizations share important lessons from the Summit following the event itself.

In fact, we have been busy since we returned from Chile adding material to our website.  I invite you – and your members – to see for yourself what the 2009 Global Summit of Women was all about by visiting our updated website, www.globewomen.org, (click on Global Summit of Women).

Even after 19 years, I remain enthused and awed by the talent and expertise exhibited by the women who participate at the Summit.  Organizations like yours which carve a path for others to follow make this a worthwhile, albeit difficult to organize, forum as it rotates yearly continent to continent. Thank you very much for giving us your support.   Best wishes and I hope that you can make your way to Beijing next year for the Summit’s 20th anniversary.

Sincerely,
Irene Natividad
Summit President

A report from the 2009 Global Summit of Women

The 19th Global Summit for Women opened today in Santiago, Chile with 28 Ministers - including the first woman Minister (for education) from Saudi Arabia!! We are indeed making progress.
Lead Specialist of the World Bank Group Gender Action Plan, Amanda Ellis sent me this report today. [Amanda and I and a few Australian Businesswomen's Network members attended last year's summit in Vietnam.]

Amanda Ellis | World Bank Group Gender Action Plan

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet formally opened the Summit to a standing ovation from a crowd of around 650, which is pretty good going given the current global financial and economic crisis. President Bachelet recapped some of the positive changes that have been enacted since she was elected Chile’s first woman President. These included:
•    significant increase (tripling) in childcare facilities
•    pension reform in favor of women
•    new code for labor practices taking into account women’s family responsibilities

As Summit President, Irene Natividad, underscored when presenting a leadership award to President Bachelet, she has never forgotten she is a woman as well as a presidebt, and has fought hard to level the playing field for women.

I presented an update to Ministers on the World Bank Group’s Gender Action Plan for women’s economic empowerment and gave a sneak preview of the Women’s Economic Opportunities Index we have been working on with the Economist Intelligence Unit. The Index compares over 100 countries on which provides the best business environment for women to be economically active. There are 6 sub categories, each of which have several components
•    Labour policy
•    Labour practice
•    Credit, property and tax
•    Education and training
•    Social customs and attitudes (these first five are all specifically relating to women)
•    General business environment

No prizes for guessing where the US and Australia currently rank on paid maternity leave!

  Tomorrow the business sessions kick off starting with moderated networking breakfasts.

Amanda Ellis, Lead Specialist World Bank Group Gender Action Plan

Thanks Amanda for keeping us updated on this inspiring event. We look forward to hearing more and to the release of the Women’s Economic Opportunities Index.

You can hear Amanda’s presentation on Social Entrepreneurship from the Australian Businesswomen’s Network’s Women’s Business Week webinar held in March. (Give the recording a few mins to get going…)

Business Culture Lessons from Zappos billion dollar experience

On of the highlights for me from South by South West’s Interactive festival this year was the keynote from Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, a $1 billion dollar online business that sells shoes (and quite a few other things).

According to Tony Hsieh, backbone of the Zappos success story is its commitment to customer service and to its culture and building a powerful context within which. This culture defines your decisions, those you recruit to fulfil the company vision and (in Zappos case) your customer relationships.

At the end of his presentations (some highlights below) he offered to send the audience (yes, all thousands of us) a copy of Zappo’s culture manual.

Being ever-conscious of not wanting to waste his money (the company turns over billions did I say?), I decided that since

1. I was in Australia and
2. both my partner PJ and I were attending

that we’d just put our names down to receive one copy.

I wondered whether they’d actually mail it to Sydney.

It arrived yesterday and here’s a couple of things.

1. It’s a whopper It’s over 500 pages of insider information (including warts and all stories from employees) and covers Training, Merchandising, Business Development etc. - an insight into the culture and values of this powerful organisation. What inspires them to hand out this to thousands of people? Pretty amazing in my eyes.
2. It’s compelling reading It’s sitting on our dining table so that we can enjoy bite-size pieces of it over the coming weeksI am a big believer in culture and ritual and identifying what it is that is true and important for you to have in your workplace. As a business owner I am challenged to define the culture and ensure we stay congruent to it. About Zappos Culture In his talk which you can watch if you go here, Tony talked about Culture being your “committable core values” and asked:

Are you willing to hire and fire according to these values?

Here are those that I managed to jot down:

10 Rules of Culture from Zappos

1. Deliver Wow through service
2. Embrace and drive change
3. Create fun and a little weirdness
4. Be adventurous, creative and open-minded
5. Pursue growth and learning
6. Build open and honest relationships with communication
7. Build a positive team and family spirit
8. Do more with less
9. Be passionate and determined
10. Be humble Watch the video for a better look at the Zappos organisation.

Oh, and here’s a really bad mug-shot of the two of us.

I’d seen Tony the week previously on TV when he was guest on Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice show and on TV he came across quite shy and humble.

In real-life he also excuded a humble air which surprised me and which I found interesting, cause people do success so very differently, don’t they?

Mentoring - Golden Globe’s big winner

Despite not getting to the movies as often as I’d like, I enjoy the awards nights that seem to crowd around the first part of the year.

Last night’s Golden Globe Awards main honoree was Steven Spielberg, whose presentation was articulate and real and contained the wisdom and clarity that you’d expect from some so accomplished in his field.

The part of his acceptance speech that I resonated with most was his endorsement of mentoring.

He related the words that his mentor said to him:

“I will always be there for you in success. But I will also be there for you in hard times.”

and spoke of who in the industry had mentored whom mentioning names like movie greats including Martin Scorcese and Ron Howard.

So, if mentoring can be a key part of an industry that could be said to be highly competitive, then there is certainly room for mentoring within all areas of learning and development.

Mentors have played (and will continue to play) a key part in my business and personal development and I am fully committed to supporting women in (especially small) business to work with a mentor to grow, advance, enhance, plan their business.

Do you expect your business to grow next year?

A recent poll of our Australian readers showed these results in response to the question:

What will be the biggest issue for women business owners in 2009?

• economy/credit crunch - 72%
• compliance (BAS, Superannuation, OH&S) - 6%
• staff shortages - 6%
• childcare - 17%

Today a new UK survey has revealed that 88 per cent of women are forecasting business growth between now and 2013, while just 74 per cent of men are doing the same.

So, what will it be for you? At the Australian Businesswomen’s Network we believe that now is the time to look for opportunities to innovate, to connect, to collaborate and to market, market, market your business. Hard times can be a opportunity for small business (which has the ability to move quickly, change direction, delve into a niche at lightning speed) to grow and expand.

Whether it’s by necessity or desire, what can you do to put your business in the position to grow and prosper in the new year?

Collaborative Leadership and Marketing Smarts from Barack Obama

Ok, what I want to know is WHEN did Barack Obama and his team think up this great URL for the next part of their campaign?

Through parts of Obama’s run-up to the election — from his online strategy to the way his groundtroops produced huge showcases that resembled well-run rock concerts — it’s been obvious that he and his team know a little about marketing.

Now this new site (even by its name) keeps up the message that the groundtroops and Barack himself have worked so hard to instill as their mantra. He is about Change. That is his brand and his message.

Check out this landing page as the Obama team seeks collaboration from the public on the Vision for the USA. He’s listening.  He’s speaking.  There is direct exchange.

 

Who is Your Chief of Staff?

US President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his Chief of Staff. Here’s why this first appointment is so important  - his Chief of Staff will control access, crack the whip, tell the truth and manage Obama’s most important resource - time.

This Harvard Review article explains how leaders need to surround themselves with people who complement them, not replicate them. 

Do you have/need a chief of staff to manage your time? More so, are they doing it effectively? Are you resisting? 

Know-How Now speaker wins International Franchise Award

Michael Paul, founder of PACK AND SEND, was the guest speaker at last year’s Know How Now webinar series. PACK & SEND has won ‘Aussie gold’ at the International Franchise of the Year awards, the first Australian company to ever do so.The franchise Pack & Send was announced as one of the top three in the world at the International Franchise of the Year awards in Singapore.

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