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News From 2009



News items and links that appeared on Womenable.com in 2009


  • Are WOBs the New Jobs Engine?: It's another headline that seems a little bit too good to be true (hearkening back to the October announcement from the National Women's Business Council and the Center for Women's Business Research that women-owned firms "create or maintain" fully 23 million jobs, more than three times the number published by the US Census Bureau) - that, by the year 2018, women-owned firms will account for half of all new small business jobs and one-third of all new jobs in the US.

    Guardian's Small Business Research Institute made this announcement in a news release just the other day, saying that these projections are based on a "rigorous analysis of converging factors." The release goes on to say that these firms will transform the workplace due to women business owners being less hierarchical and more customer-focused.

    While Womenable agrees with their findings that many women are launching their enterprises in part to thumb their noses at the corporate rat-race, and that women are more likely to seek fulfillment from enterprise creation which goes beyond making a buck (see our commentary in our most recent e-newsletter), we have our doubts that such a sea-change in the business environment will happen in less than a decade. We would, of course, love to be proven wrong!

    To read more about these new projections from the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute, click here. (December 2009)

  • Evaluating women's enterprise development in Rwanda: One of the projects that Womenable was honored to have been involved in this year was an investigation into the business enabling environment in Rwanda from a gender perspective. This project was not only designed to review and explore the situation on the ground in Rwanda - which is rapidly changing - but to pilot test and develop a diagnostic framework for conducting similar gender-aware assessments in the future.

    The report from this endeavor, "Rwanda: Investing in the Empowerment of Women in Business," is now available online. The project was funded by the US Agency for International Development's Women in Development office and carried out by Booz Allen Hamilton, which has developed a diagnostic framework for assessing impediments to enterprise development for USAID called BizCLIR. BizCLIR (short for Business Climate Legal and Institutional Reform) is similar in some ways to the World Bank's well known Doing Business rankings, but goes further to provide a more detailed assessment and recommendations for action to address challenges.

    What did the investigation find? That there has been tremendous progress in a very short time in Rwanda for women's enterprise development, but that progress has not been linked together to form a network of support, nor do existing support organizations currently have the capacity to meet the growing demand for entrepreneurship training, technical assistance, and access to capital. Further, women business owners outside Kigali are at a great disadvantage compared to their compatriots in the capital city.

    Among the report's recommendations for action:

    • strengthen the leading source of support and networking for women business owners in Rwanda, the Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs,
    • broaden the availability of entrepreneurship training and technical assistance for women business owners, using the expanding network of business support centers now being launched across the country,
    • improve the framework for access to capital for business owners in the country, and
    • build a public-private sector dialogue on women's entrepreneurship, to increase awareness and bring women in different sectors in different regions of the country together.


    To learn more, click on these links to:

    (December 2009)

  • New fund to jump start social ventures: A new "seed philanthropy" organization dedicated to helping social enterprises scale up and become more sustainable and impactful has recently been launched. This is of note both because the founder is a woman - unusual in and of itself in the venture capital world - and because the mission of the enterprise is to fund social ventures, a greater than average proportion of which are women-founded in comparison to profit-motivated ventures.

    Jump Start-up founder Anya Navidski, former Director of the Maag Centre for Entrepreneurship at INSEAD (one of the world's top business schools), was recently interviewed in The Next Woman, an online news magazine for women in technology. Click here to read the interview, and visit jumpstart-up.com to learn more about their activities. (December 2009)

  • Women's enterprise on the rise in China: Two recent news items caught Womenable's interest, as they highlight the rising tide of enterprise development in China - and the increasing wealth of women business owners in the Middle Kingdom.

    First, in late November an "Elite Summit of Chinese Businesswomen" was held in Shanghai, during which a honor roll of elite businesswomen was announced. Included as honorees were women in the travel, beauty and media industries. Click this link for more information about the event and the awards.

    Secondly, a recent report on the world's wealthiest individuals - the Hurun Report - indicates that five of the ten wealthiest women on the planet are from China. The wealthiest woman in China is entrepreneur Zhang Yin, dubbed China's "Queen of Trash," who made her fortune with Nine Dragons Paper, a company that buys scrap paper from the US and imports it into China. She outranks better-known billionaires J.K. Rowling and Oprah Winfrey. Click here to learn more. (December 2009)

  • US GEM report says that 'entrepreneurs thrive in tough times': Perhaps the photo on the report cover says it all: small business owners are like salmon swimming upstream, keeping up the effort against a sometimes strong current.

    The 2008 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's US-focused report was released on November 20. In it, researchers found that last year:

    • total entrepreneurship activity was up from the previous year - 10.8% of adults in the US were involved in starting or operating a business in 2008, compared to 9.6% in 2007,
    • nearly all of that activity, despite the economic recession, was driven by opportunity (87%) rather than necessity (13%), and
    • the US business owner population is aging: entrepreneurial activity is down in the 18-44 age range and is up among those 45 or older.

    With respect to gender differences, this year's report shows similar findings from those in previous years:

    • overall, women are less likely than men to be engaged in business ownership - but this year's report shows a rise in entrepreneurial activity for women compared to a slight decline among men,
    • while both women and men are more motivated to start a business by opportunity than necessity, necessity-based entrepreneurship is much higher among women (21%) than among men (5%),
    • women-owned firms remain under-capitalized compared to their male counterparts, and
    • women are more likely than men to report fear of failure, but are also less likely to see business growth as a measure of increased status.

    More detailed analysis will be forthcoming when the GEM gender team releases their special report on women and entrepreneurship, which typically occurs in the spring.

    The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor in 2008 covered 43 economies. For more information about country-specific reports in any of the countries included in GEM, visit the country-specific report web page, or visit the GEM home page and click around to see all of the other activities, including conferences and symposia, that this international effort - now in its 10th year - generates. (November 2009)

  • Women Mean Business conference in India: Long known for her activism and support of women's rights issues, attorney and wife of the former Prime Minister of the UK Cherie Booth Blair has recently ramped up her international women's rights activities.

    The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women is organizing an entrepreneurship-focused conference in India next month: the Women Mean Business Conference. Held on 11 December in Mumbai, the conference will feature plenary speakers such as Ms. Blair, leaders of India's ICICI Bank - known for their financing efforts in the women's market, and Sunita Singh, senior director of the Wadhwani Foundation - which focuses on fueling entrepreneurship in developing economies.

    Conference sessions will cover such topics as leadership, giving back to the community, dressing for success, negotiating and bargaining skills, and essential business success factors.

    To learn more about the Foundation's initiatives, or about the conference itself, click on the links above. (November 2009)

  • White House Project benchmarks women's leadership: A fairly comprehensive report just out from The White House Project - whose aim is not only to get a woman in the White House but to advance women's leadership generally - provides a compendium of worthwhile information that should prove a valuable resource for you womenablers out there.

    The report, entitled, "The White House Project Report: Benchmarking Women's Leadership," takes a look at the status of women in leadership positions in ten key areas:

    • academia,
    • business,
    • film and television,
    • journalism,
    • law,
    • military,
    • non-profit,
    • politics,
    • religion, and
    • sports.

    What do they find? While women are making progress, they have not yet reached a critical mass position in any of the ten areas studied. Overall, just 18% of top leadership positions are held by women. Which of the 10 areas is most fertile for women's leadership? Academia, with women holding 23% of top positions. The worst? The military, with only 11% of leadership positions held by women.

    One point, though, about their coverage of "business": while - like the recent Shriver Report - it mentions women's status in the workplace and in large corporations, it says very little about women's entrepreneurship and business ownership in general.

    However, as the White Project mentions in its social network page covering the report, it sees this report as an opening salvo and welcomes comments and suggestions about how to improve issue coverage as subsequent efforts are undertaken.

    Our take: brava, White House Project.

    Our recommendation: definitely worth downloading, reading and adding to your womenabling reference shelf.

    To learn more and to download the report, visit the above-mentioned social networking site. (November 2009)

  • Scaling up women-owned firms: Back in February of this year, the management consultancy Ernst & Young published a well-designed report, "Groundbreakers," that synthesized and summarized the growing body of evidence that investing in the empowerment and inclusion of women can reap economic rewards. Focusing largely on women in corporate settings, the report made the point that diversity is "an equation for success" and pointed out the need to get beyond token inclusion to the adoption of diversity as a central tenet of leadership development and team-building.

    In their latest report in what they are now calling their "Groundbreakers" series, Ernst & Young turns their attention to women's entrepreneurship. "Scaling up: Why women-owned businesses can recharge the global economy" gathers up many sources familiar to we womenablers and again compiles an easy-on-the-eyes summary of key points, such as:

    • legal and cultural barriers currently set many women business owners on a lower growth trajectory,

    • access to markets, networks and capital are all challenges, and

    • education and business support often does not get women past the ABC's of starting a business and on a path to thinking bigger.


    What does the report suggest in the way of possible solutions to these challenges? More mentoring and roles models, programs to expand professional networks for women, and nurturing high-potential women business owners with coaching and other forms of personalized support - such as those offered by the ATHENA PowerLink mentoring program, Count Me In's Make Mine a Million $ Business initiative, Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Women initiative and Ernst & Young's own "Winning Women" program launched last year.

    The report ends with this call to arms:

    "As it is used in sociology, the term 'tipping point' — popularized
    by author Malcolm Gladwell in his bestselling book of that name —
    describes the transformation that results when a movement
    for change reaches the point where it becomes an inexorable
    force. Gladwell calls it 'the moment of critical mass, the threshold,
    the boiling point.' Women are at the threshold. As we emerge
    from a historic economic downturn, a vital push is needed
    to make women’s enterprises an unstoppable force for
    positive transformation."

    Hear, hear!
    (November 2009)

  • Lights off at the UK's Women's Enterprise Task Force: In contrast to the enthusiasm and promise that accompanied the launch of the Women's Enterprise Task Force in the UK back in 2006, it is slated to sunset rather quietly next week, with a final event during women's enterprise day of Global Entrepreneurship Week.

    The final act of the WETF will be to issue the final version of a report issued earlier in the year, "Greater Return on Women's Enterprise," in which the task force issued fifteen recommendations in the following five areas:

    • Better analysis, better understanding - relating to the need for more sex-disaggregated business statistics;

    • Enabling more women to join the enterprise economy - focused on business outreach and education;

    • Driving high growth - especially as it relates to access to growth capital;

    • Business readiness for public procurement - to encourage more women to sell their products and services to the UK government; and

    • Keeping up the momentum - in which continued advocacy is encouraged.


    Just last week, the UK government issued a point by point response to the WETF's recommendations. Click on these links to read the press statement from the UK's Department for Business Innovation and Skills, and to download and read the full 40-page government response.

    Both reports are worth a read, but they can leave a womenabler's heart somewhat bereft at the thought of so much that has been left unsaid and undone.

    When the final task force report is issued next week, Womenable will pass along the news and highlights.

    An additional note: an Ethnic Minority Business Task Force also recently concluded its 2-year remit to analyze and report on the challenges and needs of minority business owners and their enterprises. For more information about that task force, visit its web site, or download the government response to their report here.
    (November 2009)

  • Global entrepreneurship week celebrated: In its inaugural year last year, 77 countries joined Global Entrepreneurship Week with contests, panel discussions, demonstrations and educational activities - all aimed at celebrating the enterprising spirit and encouraging more citizens, especially students, to consider entrepreneurial pursuits. Nearly 25,000 events were attended by 3 million participants.

    This year, GEW founder Kauffman Foundation expects those numbers to grow. The second annual celebration runs from November 16-22. For more information, and to see what events might be happening near you, visit unleashingideas.org. Special events focused on women's entrepreneurship are targeted in many countries for Wednesday, November 18. (November 2009)

  • New UN report on role of women and economic development: Every five years, the UN's Division on the Advancement of Women conducts a "world survey" on some aspect of the status of women. In 1999 the focus was globalization, gender and work; in 2004 it was women and international migration. This year, the 2009 World Survey focuses on the role of women in economic development.

    The report, entitled, "2009 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development: Women’s Control over Economic Resources and Access to Financial Resources, including Microfinance," draws needed attention to the importance of both legal frameworks AND social protection. Chapters in the report include discussions of:

    • macroeconomics and women's economic empowerment,
    • access to full employment and work,
    • access to land, housing and other resources,
    • access to financial services, and
    • access to social protection.

    A long list of recommendations are made, including one of Womenable's consistent drumbeats - the importance of building capacity in both research institutions and government statistical agencies to collect, analyze and disseminate gender-disaggregated data.

    Visit this link at the UN Division for the Advancement of Women to learn more about this and previous World Surveys and to download the report. (October 2009)

  • What is the status of women around the world?: This is a question that the World Economic Forum attempts to answer every year (since 2006) with an analysis of the "global gender gap."

    This year's report, as with the previous analyses, rates 115 economies around the world in four key areas:

    • health, as measured by life expectancy,

    • educational attainment, as measured by access to basic and higher levels of education,

    • political empowerment, as measured by gender balance in decision-making structures, and

    • economic participation, as measured by labor force participation, salaries and access to higher-skilled employment.


    The ranking system measures relative parity in these areas rather than overall levels. And, unfortunately for us womenablers, the economic participation measure does not include a look at self-employment or business ownership.

    Who's on top this year? Iceland, which ranked 4th in 2008. Other Nordic countries continue to do well; 5 of the top 10 ranked economies are in the region: Finland comes in 2nd, followed by Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, South Africa, Denmark, Ireland, the Philippines, and Lesotho.

    The report and related information (including the WEF news release, video interview and links to world press coverage) can be downloaded from the WEF's Gender Gap Report page. (October 2009)

  • Corporate smackdown? 20-First vs. Catalyst? Is there a generational or geographic tussle for thought leadership going on in the realm of women in corporations, we wonder?

    A new report, "Womenomics 101," from the relatively new on the scene consultancy 20-First, puts out some new ideas in a way that appears - to us at least - to take a step toward the position of Catalyst, the venerable 47-year old group that first put Fortune 500 companies' collective feet to the fire with respect to women's representation on boards and senior leadership positions.

    20-First suggests that, rather than focusing on the number of women on corporate boards, more attention should be paid to corporate Executive Committees, the senior staff that actually get things done in large corporations.

    In a look at corporate executive committees, 20-First finds that:

    • 89% of top US corporations have at least one woman on their Executive Committee, compared to just 21% of top companies in Europe and only 17% in Asia, but

    • Most of these women are in staff (HR, communications) rather than in line or profit-center functions.

    New ideas and new players are certainly needed in this space, since progress has been incremental at best. And a widening of the lens might put new issues into perspective. Good luck to both, and let the competition begin! (October 2009)

  • From a man's world to a woman's nation? Unless you are a Luddite unplugged from the mass media, you can't avoid hearing about a new report from the Center for American Progress and others, most notably newswoman and First Lady of California Maria Shriver, entitled, "The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything."

    It's an expensive and well-crafted effort, and brings to more widespread public attention the fact that things have been changing in American households. To wit:

    • women will soon comprise over half of the country's workforce,

    • women are now the primary breadwinners or co-breadwinners in nearly two-thirds of American families, and

    • while, on average, women receive the majority of high school, associate's, bachelor's and graduate degrees, many women - most notably women of color - are being left behind, and these educational gains are not being equally reflected in workplace gains.

    Womenable, for one, feels that the increasing number of women opting for entrepreneurial pursuits should have warranted more than three paragraphs in the 454-page report, and left a more positive impression than the "woe is me" fact that few women-owned firms reach the million-dollar level.

    Noted feminist commentator Gloria Steinem also rightly notes that "by its title and promotion, this report risks portraying women's arrival at 50/50 as an irresistible force that by itself 'changes everything.'” In her recent commentary on the Women's Media Center web site, Steinem does conclude that that the report raises important issues in a way that encourages dialogue and action.

    In that regard, the report makes an important point: that while we as individuals have been dealing with these changes and the shifting burdens they are placing on our lives, public policy and corporate practice have not yet followed suit.

    Let's hope that the media campaign being waged this week on our airwaves will put this important issue on the public agenda. Yes, we have health care to fix and other domestic and international issues of importance on our plates, but this is an important issue, too.

    Click here to read more about and download the report. (October 2009)

  • Economica: Women and the global economy: Economica is the name of a new online exhibit focused on the economic contributions of women around the world. Launched by the San Francisco-based International Museum of Women, the exhibit not only contains annotated photographic slideshows, but essays, podcasts and online discussions.

    Themes not only include business leadership and microenterprise, but basic rights (such as property ownership), family and fertility, and a look to the future.

    It's definitely worth spending some time exploring. Visit the exhibit web site to learn more and to see what the exhibit has to offer. (October 2009)

  • Economic impact: the devil's in the details! Womenable read the headline with interest: "Nation's Women-Owned Firms Contribute Nearly $3 Trillion to US Economy According to Groundbreaking Research." However, reading beyond the headlines leaves us more than a bit crestfallen.

    Read the latest Womenabler blogpost:

    "Last week, some new numbers were announced regarding the impact that women-owned firms have on the U.S. economy. The Center for Women's Business Research, with support from Walmart and the National Women's Business Council, reported that women-owned businesses "contribute nearly $3 trillion to our national economy and create or maintain 23 million jobs." While there is no disputing that looking solely at business revenues goes only part way toward measuring the full impact of a business in a community, exactly how to more fully account for the impact of women-owned businesses is a difficult question.

    "While the Center for Women's Business Research has opened up an important discussion, they have not, in my view, added to the fabric of knowledge about women business owners and their enterprises in a wholly positive manner. The devil, as they say, is in the details."
    Read on ... (October 2009)

  • Top women in business in US and globally: For the fifth straight year, Fortune magazine has published its list of the most powerful women in business. Topping the top 50 list in the US are:

    • Indra Nooyi, Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo,

    • Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods, and

    • Pat Woertz, Chairman, CEO and President of Archer Daniels Midland.


    Who's tops on the global list? Think mining, money and media:

    • Cynthia Carroll, CEO of Anglo American, a British company involved in mining in Africa,

    • Gail Kelly, Managing Director and CEO of Westpac Bank of Australia, who started out as a bank teller in South Africa, and

    • Marjorie Scardino, long-time CEO of Pearson, a media company based in the UK.


    Click on this link to read more about the 2009 list, and click on the pop-up list on that page to visit the previous years' lists. (September 2009)

  • New UN "composite agency" for women advances: On September 14, the UN General Assembly gave its unanimous support to a resolution that takes the organization one step closer to creating a single gender equality entity. This action had been advocated for a number of years by women's rights advocates around the world, who see the current support for women's rights issues - currently scattered across a number of UN agencies - as lacking in strength and strategic direction.

    While this vote is a step in the right direction, many actions remain. In a statement by European civil society organizations involved in the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign, leaders there say that while the vote marks "a historic moment, which has the potential to be a start of a new era for women’s rights globally," they remain "concerned by the lack of detail in the final resolution, adopted by the UN General Assembly on 14.09.09. Specifically, we are disappointed that the references to the mandate of the new entity and concrete actions to make it operational were not part of the final resolution." They call for such operations details to be decided by next March and for the new entity to be operational by the middle of 2010.

    For additional information on the GEAR Campaign, click on the link above, and for more information about the recent UN General Assembly action, click on the links below:
    (September 2009)

  • Big value in small loans: A new research study just out from CARE highlights some of the successes of Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs), savings clubs that often start at monetary levels below even the modest amounts involved in microfinance loans. These groups provide tremendous community benefits, including increasing personal empowerment, community activism, and economic empowerment - including entreoreneurial activities. Further, VSLAs can provide a feeder system for microfinance institutions.

    Over the past 18 years, CARE has established VSLAs in 21 African countries, reaching over 1 million members - mostly women. CARE's goal is to expand that reach in the coming decade to 30 million people in 39 countries.

    To learn more about the report and to download a copy of "Microfinance in Africa, State-of-the-Sector Report", visit the care.org web site. (September 2009)

  • Who are the most powerful women in the world? According to Forbes magazine, it is largely a mixture of heads of state, business leaders, and senior government officials - with a few members of royalty and civil society thrown in for good measure. Tops on the list, for the 4th year in a row, is German chancellor Angela Merkel.

    To read the full set of articles related to the 2009 list, click on this link.

    Of particular interest:

    Coming up later this fall, we expect, will be Fortune magazine's listing of the most powerful women in business. Though dominated by corporate chieftains more so than entrepreneurial leaders, it is nonetheless a more relevant list for we womenablers. (August 2009)

  • WBO Associations in Romania Meet: For the seventh year running, the Coalition of Women's Business Associations (CAFA) in Romania have met and discussed issues of common interest. Advocacy was a key element of the meeting: member organizations heard from government officials who spoke at the conference, and conferees met to work out a strategic plan for growing membership and raising their visibility and voice. CAFA was founded in 2004 by 4 women's business associations; its membership has now expanded to include 19 women's business groups from across the country. Thanks to the CIPE Development Blog for reporting on this event.

    CAFA and other women's business groups in the Balkans have collaborated, with the help of CIPE , the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), on four "Women of Success" reports and CDs, which highlight the stories of successful entrepreneurial women in the region. Click here to learn more about these reports, four of which were published in 2002 through 2005.

    As Womenable has always said, telling stories and sharing wisdom and personal experiences is every bit as important as statistical information in painting a picture of women's enterprise, showcasing role models, and highlighting - in a personal way - the barriers that women face when starting and growing their enterprises. (August 2009)

  • Gender Responsive Budgeting With a Stick: The Honorable Akua Sena Dansua, Ghana's Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, has raised the stakes in "gender responsive budgeting" in that country, linking the development of action plans with budget allocations.

    Speaking at a three-day workshop on gender responsive budgeting in Ho, Ghana in August, Dansua said that government agencies that do not set up and implement their programs in a gender-aware way by 2010 will risk budgetary sanctions. Gender responsive budgeting actions were initiated by MOWAC, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) and the National Development Planning Committee (NDPC) back in 2008, but Minister Dansua is obviously kicking it up a notch. Way to go, Minister!

    Click here to read more about the workshop and the Minister's remarks. (August 2009)

  • APEC-WLN policy declarations: The 14th meeting of women leaders in government, policy and business concluded in Singapore recently with the publication of 10 policy recommendations to be forwarded to APEC leaders.

    Included in the recommendations are suggestions that the leaders of governments in the APEC region, which includes 21 economies around the Pacific Rim including the US, pay particular attention to:

    • capacity-building programs targeted toward women,

    • access to finance for SMEs,

    • facilitate access to ICT for small business, including for rural and indigenous women, and

    • supporting social enterprise as a business model.

    Visit this link on the APEC-WLN web site to learn more about the conference and to download and read the full list of recommendations. (August 2009)

  • New ILO study on women entrepreneurs in Kenya: A 2008 study focused on the challenges facing women business owners in Kenya is newly-available online from the International Labour Organisation.

    The 117-page document is actually two studies in one: "Women Entrepreneurs in Kenya: A Preliminary Report" and "Factors Affecting Women in Micro and Small Enterprises in Kenya: A Preliminary Research Report." The reports may be found and downloaded at this link.

    The study points out that some of the key constraints being faced by women business owners in Kenya, as elsewhere, are:

    • access to finance,

    • legal and regulatory barriers,

    • business management skills,

    • access to technology, and

    • the dual burden of business and family responsibilities.

    (August 2009)

  • New UN Women's "Super Agency"?: In a recent article in the UK's Guardian newspaper, regular contributor Lesley Abdela succinctly summarizes the recent upwelling of frustration with the lack of coordination and funding for efforts in the United Nations directed at women. A 2006 expert review panel looking into the issue found that the UN's support for women to be "incoherent, fragmented, and under-resourced".

    There is to be a vote in the UN later this year to create a "super agency" within the UN focused on women, with a possible budget of $1 billion. Currently, many different groups within the UN deal with women's issues, but the overall impact is diluted by lack of coordination, visibility and clout within the highly bureaucratic organization that is the United Nations.

    There is even an independent group that has been formed to lobby on the formation of this agency - GEAR: Gender Equality Action Reform. Click on the link to learn more about the group and its advocacy plans.

    Womenable would like to give credit to The WIP (Women's International Perspective) e-newsletter for highlighting the Guardian article, which led us to the GEAR web site. Visit The WIP web site to learn more about this women-oriented news aggregator, and to subscribe to their news digests and/or to follow their posts on Twitter.

    And, click here to check out all of the other women-oriented media links that are now on Womenable's links page! (May 2009)

  • Fourteen WBCs to Open in Pakistan: Speaking at a seminar at the Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry on May 23, the provincial chief of Pakistan's Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhary, announced plans to open 14 women's business centers across the country to help more women start end grow businesses.

    The centers will be located in major commercial and industrial centers and will feature incubator/office space, educational classes, and other business development services. They will be supported with funding from SMEDA.

    For additional information, check out these information links:
    The Associated Press of Pakistan
    The Pakistan Times
    The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority
    (May 2009)

  • Womenable Writes on FDI in Enterprising Women magazine: In the most recent issue of Enterprising Women magazine, Womenable President and CEO Julie R. Weeks writes about a new and growing facet of foreign direct investment (FDI) - the technology-enabled person-to-person giving that has grown in a few short years to be a multi-million dollar industry.

    While this new foreign direct investment activity is still dwarfed by the hundreds of billions invested annually from developed to developing nations and by multilateral organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, this "bottom-up" FDI gets into the hands of budding entrepreneurs much more directly.

    The article mentions the direct investments being made by such organizations as Kiva, MicroPlace and Global Giving, and contains links to podcasts and YouTube videos focused on these efforts.

    Click here to download a PDF version of the article. We also suggest visiting the Enterprising Women web site to learn more about the magazine and to consider subscribing. Online subscriptions are now available, which makes it easier for interested parties from around the world to read and share the magazine. Many articles (including this one) now contain hyperlinks to related information, making the reading experience a much more interactive one. (May 2009)

  • Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards: Since 1992, the accomplishments of women entrepreneurs in Canada have been recognized in an annual awards program. Nominations are now open until the end of June for the 17th annual awards in five categories:

    • outstanding start-up,

    • making a difference to the local economy,

    • overcoming obstacles and sustaining growth,

    • trailblazer (innovation and originality), and

    • entrepreneurial excellence (role model, serial entrepreneur).


    To read more about the awards, including how to nominate yourself or another woman business owner of distinction and learn about past award winners, click on this link.

    The awards event will be held on December 8. (May 2009)

  • New Study: Women in Business Are Risk-Takers: While not focused on women entrepreneurs exclusively, a new study by researchers at Simmons College does help further dispel the erroneous belief that women are risk-averse in business settings. The study shows that women in business do, indeed, pursue opportunities for professional change in strong numbers.

    The study authors asked about real-life situations rather than hypothetical financial allocation scenarios often used in other analysis, saying that "When you actually unpack the research, the finding that women avoid risk is based on very specific contexts and a limited concept of risk-taking actions. By including contexts in which significant investments of time and money are placed in projects which require learning-by-doing, and where the likelihood of success is very hard to predict, we found women engaged in a lot of risk-taking actions." So says study co-author Sylvia Maxfield, a professor at the Simmons College's School of Management.

    The findings were based on a survey of businesswomen attending Simmons College's 2008 women's leadership conference, a well-attended gathering of women professionals in a variety of fields, including entrpreneurial endeavor. The report was released just prior and was discussed at the 2009 conference, held in Boston earlier this month.

    For more information about the research study, visit the web site of The Simmons College School of Management's Center for Gender in Organizations. (May 2009)

  • Spotlighting Female-Led Innovation in the UK: The Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network has announced the opening of nominations for the most creative new products and services offered by inventive and innovative women-owned firms in the UK. This year, the 12th year of the awards program, the categories in which awards will be given include most innovative technology, foods, health and beauty, and best product design and packaging. There are 10 categories in all, including the Female Inventor of the Year.

    To find out more about the awards program, including how to submit a nomination or for information on attending the awards gala in Cardiff Wales in June, visit www.gwiin.com. (May 2009)

  • Small Business Week Celebrations in Europe, US:May 6-14 marks the first European SME Week, organized by the European Commission to increase awareness of and interest in entrepreneurial activity. Events taking place during the week include:

    • an SME Experience exhibition, to allow the public to learn more about what it means to own a business,

    • an Entrepreneurship Video competition and awards ceremony, featuring videos explaining entrepreneurship to a suspecting public, and

    • a conference focused on the EC's new Small Business Act of Europe, which was passed last year to encourage more small business creation.

    Find out more at the SME Week web site.

    May 17-19 also marks the 56th annual celebration of National Small Business Week by the U.S. Small Business Administration. New SBA Administrator Karen Mills will make a keynote speech that will mark her debut as head of the agency. Other presentations will focus on overcoming challenges in a challenging economy, using innovation as a competitive edge, and how to leverage the new social media.

    The SBA also uses the occasion to announce national award winners such as Small Business Owner of the Year, Small Business Lender of the Year, Federal Procurement Awards, and National Small Business Champion Awards. Find out more at www.nationalsmallbusinessweek.com. (May 2009)

  • Small business innovation: We've alerted you womenablers out there about the previous studies published by Intuit and the Institute for the Future in their "Future of Small Business" research reports. Their latest focuses on innovation.

    It's not news that small firms are more innovative, generally speaking, than larger firms. This study, though, adds some new information to the discussion, reporting that there are six important enablers of innovation:

    • personal passion,

    • customer connection,

    • agility and adaptation,

    • experimentation and improvisation,

    • resource limitations, and

    • information sharing and collaboration.


    To download and read the latest report in the series, "Defining Small Business Innovation", as well as their earlier reports - "The Changing Face of Entrepreneurs", "The Connected World of Entrepreneurs", and "The New Entrepreneurial Economy" - visit Intuit's Future of Small Business web site. (April 2009)

  • World Entrepreneurship Day: More and more folks are coming to recognize the power and promise of entrepreneurial ideas and the women and men who bring them to life. April 17 marks the first World Entrepreneurship Day, founded to "infuse entrepreneurial optimism into the world when it needs it the most."

    Another international celebration of entrepreneurship will come on 16-22 November, which is the second Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative spearheaded by the Kauffman Foundation and underwritten by them and others. Focused on students, the mission of Global Entrepreneurship Week is to "inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity." The 19th of November is Women's Entrepreneurship Day.

    And let's not forget our old stand-by here in the US, Small Business Week, organized by the US Small Business Administration for the past 46 years. A key component of this effort is the SBA's recognition - at the state, regional and national level - of small business people of the year and of supporters of small business - including a "Women in Business Champion of the Year." (April 2009)

  • 2007 Economic Census Timetable Announced: This past week, the US Census Bureau announced the timetable for the release of 2007 economic census data. Early employer data for some industries was released this week, but we womenablers will have to wait until December of 2010 for our data fix.

    Visit the new 2007 Economic Census page for news and updates. Also, next month, the Census Bureau will activate a "Notify Me" sign-up system that will keep you informed of upcoming data releases. There will be nearly a dozen different reports released - not only the data on women-owned firms but reports on minority-owned firms (individually and collectively) and on characteristics of firms and their owners - so we'll definitely be signing up and we suggest that you do, too! (March 2009)

  • Women as "Groundbreakers": At the recent World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Ernst & Young released a glossy new report entitled, "Groundbreakers," focusing on why paying attention to gender diversity (in a corporate context largely) is important.

    While the content is not ground-breaking, the report is well-sourced and provides a very good encapsulation of the reasons why increasing gender diversity matters: it improves team performance, it improves the corporate bottom line, and - in this time of economic turmoil - we need as many brains as we can muster to help navigate companies and countries through choppy waters.

    To learn more about the report, and to download a free copy, click on this link. (March 2009)

  • What do women want? Hedy Ratner, co-founder of the Women's Business Development Center in Chicago - the longest-serving and one of the largest women's business centers in the country - waxes eloquent in a recent article in Today's Chicago Woman about what women (business owners) want. According to Ratner (and Womenable would agree), the new administration can and should do much more to support the development of women-owned enterprises. Her suggestions include:

    • increase access to capital,

    • reform the health care system and improve the cost and availability for small firms,

    • make the SBA stronger and more sensitive,

    • improve Federal procurement policies as they relate to women-owned firms, and

    • make taxes fairer for small business owners.


    Click here to read Ratner's op-ed article. (March 2009)

  • There they go again? The headline from the latest research report from the Kauffman Foundation focused on women-owned firms reads, "Women-owned entrepreneurial start-ups underperform men-owned firms."

    There's no disputing the fact that women undercapitalize their firms compared to men. In this study, which follows a national sample of nearly 5,000 businesses that were launched in 2004, 55% of women started with $25,000 or more in capital compared to 65% of men.

    The study also points out that men had more prior work experience (13 vs. 9 years) and were more likely to have graduated from college than women (50% vs. 47%).

    But the study goes on to say that women are more likely to be home-based (53% vs. 50%), spend fewer hours working in their firms (40 vs. 43 hours per week) and had lower credit scores (11% high versus 13% high) compared to men. However, are those differences REALLY statistically significant?

    And do they really explain the very real difference in outcomes - an average of 1.8 employees for women and 3.1 for men, and average revenues of just $60,000 for women compared to nearly $119,000 for men?

    Whether or not one agrees with this report's suppositions that "risk aversion" or placing "less value on firm size and profits" - or with the conjecture of one of the authors that many women start businesses as a "lifestyle choice" - may be reasons for the differences in outcomes, the report is worth a read.

    Download the study from this link, and read more about it at the Kauffman Foundation's Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship blog. (February 2009)

  • The 10th annual Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report was published in January at a conference at Babson College in Massachusetts. The 2008 data collection effort garnered the participation of 43 countries, which were classified this time into three categories: factor-driven, efficiency-driven, and innovation-driven.

    As previous studies have shown, entrepreneurial activity rates vary widely across economies. In this year's report, total entrepreneurial activity ranged from a low of 4.4% of the adult population in Russia to a high of 45.6% in Bolivia. Start-up activity rates were lowest in Russia (1.7%) and highest in Peru (19.7%).

    While this year's study was fielded prior to the time when global economic growth virtually halted, there are signs in the study that the effects of a slow-down were already being felt. While optimism remained among existing business owners, fewer non-entrepreneurs perceived good business opportunities on the horizon.

    The GEM study again found that women are less likely than men to be engaged in entrepreneurial activity in all countries studied - except in Angola, where rates for women were higher than for men. The gender-related findings of this ongoing research effort have been captured for the past four years in separate reports. (See Womenable's Reference Library web page for a listing and links to these reports.)

    This year, special attention was given to the issue of entrepreneurial education and training. The report notes that:

    • On average, around 20% of business owners interviewed say they received formal training in starting a business - but the share ranged quite widely, from 6% to 48%,

    • Approximately 10% sought out information and guidance on their own rather than attending formal classes, and

    • in all countries except Latvia, women were less likely than men to have received pre start-up business education.


    Visit this GEM Consortium web page to download and read the full report and a press release summarizing key findings, or go to the main GEM web site to learn more about this long-term, multi-country effort. (February 2009)

  • Vive là difference génération: In one of several topical inquiries into the minds of growth-oriented women business owners undertaken by Womenable for Count Me In's "Make Mine a Million $ Business" initiative, the differences between Baby Boomer women and their Generation X counterparts were explored. This study, underwritten by American Express OPEN, found that:

    • While members of Generation X are younger and have been in business for a shorter period of time, they are approaching their Boomer sisters in terms of business achievement;

    • Gen Xers are also advantaged in that they are more likely to be coming into business ownership with childhood business experiences and an entrepreneurial role model in their family, but Boomers are more likely to have started their growth-oriented business venture with previous ownership experience under their belts; and

    • The majority of Gen Xers interviewed (55%) say they wish to grow to the million-dollar level for the impact that it will have on their immediate environment (themselves, their families and their employees), while a 52% majority of Boomer women want to have a broader impact - on their communities or on the world.


    To read and download a free copy of this 6-page research report, click here! (January 2009)

  • New study on mentoring for women in the UK: A newly-launched National Policy Centre focused on women's enterprise in the UK, opened just last October with funding from the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Prowess, is wasting no time in publishing thoughtful research and policy papers. Their debut publication focuses on mentoring, taking a look at the number and the focus of programs that are helping women start and grow businesses.

    The study finds 79 such programs in England, 25 of which target women exclusively or inclusively, and notes that 49% of their clientele are women.

    Important common principles of good practice in such programs were identified in the areas of program delivery, sustainability, and management, and the report concludes with a recommendation to establish a National Women's Enterprise Mentoring Network to better market, share best practices, and monitor effectiveness.

    The full report and executive summary can be found on the Prowess web site at this link. ( January 2009)

  • Calling All Bold Ideas: WorldPulse, an online and print media dedicated to sharing the voices of women worldwide, and the Ashoka Foundation, which supports social entrepreneurs worldwide, are both seeking bold ideas focused on making the world a better place, and running contests with cash and other prizes.

    WorldPulse's second annual Bold Ideas contest is looking for ideas focused on empowering women. Just tell them your bold idea before the contest deadline of January 10; the two most creative ideas will win three mentoring sessions with a business coach to help you bring the idea to fruition, coverage in their magazine, and a 2-year subscription to the magazine.

    Changemakers, an initiative of the Ashoka Foundation, has announced a campaign/contest entitled The Power of Us, which is focused on ways to use technology and new media to make the world a better place. Submit your idea prior to January 21 to be eligible for $50,000 USD in project seed funding. Also, check out the ideas that have already been submitted at this link. Public comments, and second-party nominations, are also encouraged. (January 2009)



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    Last Updated: July 31, 2010