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The Ladies go Gaga for Music Entrepreneurs
Here The NextWomen Events Editor, Misae Richwoods, waxes lyrical about Music4point5.
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Misae Richwoods (flickr cc: pevijo)
When it comes to the old sing-a-long, two girls who’ve been backing many an act are Petra Johansson and Rassami Hok Ljungberg, whose duo performances are made under the stage name of 2 Pears. Better known for their encore performances staging Tech Crunch Europe’s regular events, 2 Pears noticed that tech was starting to rock the music industry and put out a ballad called Music 4.5 to serenade the two together. Would it be an A-ha moment, INXS of expectations or Simply Red?
Panels
Held at Central London’s Cavendish Conference Centre near Harley Street, the line up was equally plush. An opening panel was made by The Guardian’s Jemima Kiss interviewing the head of The Performing Rights Society, Fergal Sharkey. Whilst half expecting him to break into a medley of ‘a good right these days is heart to find’, successive panels focussed on key topic areas and played a percussive chorus of music being a strong industry.
“Let’s get this clear,”
said Jeremy Silver of the FAC,
“all this talk of music being an industry in crisis is media hype. Look at the facts. Live music is massively on the up. Merchandising is on the up. The only area that technology has affected is recorded music and that’s the area that technology created in the first place.”
This was backed up by Chris Corey of the PRS
“From £1.3bn to £1.4bn last year in recorded, music is a growing industry and a great industry to be in”.
“The issue,” continued Jeremy, “is simply of an industry trying to modernise itself. And like the Post Office, it’s messy!” Read more
The NextWomen Invite Female Entrepreneurs to Dine with Michelle Dewberry and Chiconomise
Continuing with their ever popular series of Kitchen Dinners, The NextWomen are excited to announce their newest feast – Dine with Chiconmise on Wednesday March 24th, 2010 in London. Join Michelle Dewberry in The NextWomen’s very own kitchen for an intimate dinner and learn more about the ‘act of living stylishly for less’ from the founding Chiconomist herself. Enjoy peer-to-peer networking with successful online female entrepreneurs, a three course meal, speed mentoring and a fascinating keynote.
BOOK NOW
For more details visit our kitchen dinner and upcoming events pages and watch the video from our hugely successful Big Kitchen Dinner and photos.
MICHELLE DEWBERRY
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Head Hunted by a Major Internet Service Provider
After leaving school in Hull aged 16 with no qualifications, Michelle Dewberry started her career with a modern apprenticeship in business. Alongside this, she studied IT in her spare time and quickly moved up the corporate ladder. Aged just 22, Michelle was head-hunted by a major Internet Service Provider to manage one of their biggest international projects. Following the successful delivery of this project, Dewberry established herself as a self employed consultant, managing multi-million pound projects spanning across Europe and Asia. She was just 23 years old.
Winner of The Apprentice
Aged 24, Michelle seized the opportunity to apply for the second series of BBC’s The Apprentice and beat over 15,000 people to become the first female and youngest winner of the show.
Founder of Michelle Dewberry ltd and Chiconomise Read more
Veuve Clicquot Business Woman of the Year Award Finalists Announced
Veuve Clicquot has announced the shortlist for its Business Woman of the Year Award, bringing together shining examples of female
entrepreneurship. This year the organisers say the Award places a greater focus on Corporate Social Responsibility. The finalists include for the UK:
- Victoria Stapleton, Founder of fashion retailer, Brora
- Gill Riley, Founding and Managing Directorof construction
firm, GGR-UNIC
- Laura Tenison, Founder and Managing Director of retailing
company, JoJo Maman Bebe
- Louise Wymer, Director of catering company, The Catering Academy
The judging panel is comprised of business leaders, including Martha Lane fax and Gail Rebuck, CEO of Random House Publishing House. Each nominee was judged, not only on financial results and commercial success but increasingly on how each business embedded
social and environmental responsibility within their businesses.
JoJo Maman Bebe founder, Laura Tenison, was selected because of the launch of the Nema Foundation, a Mozambiquebased charity for infant mortality. Gill Riley of GGR was highlighted because her work as a champion to equal opportunities for women in a male-dominated industry. Read more
100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day 2010 sees some Remarkable Achievements
Each year around the world, International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.
As this year was the 100th anniversary of Women’s International Day 2010 it was a day full of very special achievements. We are listing them and keep updating this list. Send us your news to include in this list.
1.Kathryn Bigelow made history last night after becoming the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director.
2. Ms Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Digital Agenda will be awarded The Aletta Jacobs Prize 2010 of the University of Groningen, The Netherlands. She is receiving the prize in honour of the major social developments she has supported for women.
3. Female lawyers in Saudi Arabia are embracing a proposed legal change that will enable them to practise for the first time. (Source: The Lawyer)
4. ‘100 British Women who changed the World’ have been named by The Independent , including Martha Lane Fox, Clara Furse of the Stock Exchange.
4. 49 Most Notable Female Internet Heroes of 2009 have been celebrated by The NextWomen.
Please complete the list with us! Send us your tips on simone [at] thenextwomen .com
The 7 Rules of Business Discipline to Succeed in Business
Emma Wimhurst speaking at Women Unlimited
Experienced entrepreneur Emma Wimhurst of Diva Cosmetics, who sold her business after which she started to advise startups how to grow their business, spoke today at International Womens’ Day at the Women Unlimited Conference in London, organized by Julie Hall. She shared her rules of business discipline for entrepreneurs to control, grow and add impact to their business, as follows:
Business Discipline Number 1: Business Strategy.
Focus your vision in a mission statement with maximum 50 words. Think whether you now your customers, who is buying your products and why they are buying your products. What is your value that you are bringing? You need to have it, because it is inspirational, but above all, a reason to say no to certain proposals, which are outside the mission statement
Business Discipline Number 2: Planning.
Build your business with a business plan. Make an itenary, just like you are planning a trip. Overcome fears to drafting the business plan, take time out to do so. Get knowledge on the customers, who are your potential customers?
Building Discipline Number 3: Marketing Management
Master your Management. Make materials which reflect your values. If you invest in any marketing, whether it is a newtworking evening you are going to or a flyer, know your desired outcome, and put the investment in with that in mind. Everything you do needs to have a desired outcome, and then review it afterwards, in order to know whether the investment made sense.
Building Discipline Number 4: Practical Finance. Read more
Astia unites European Investor Community at second annual ‘Doing it Right’ London Programme for Entrepreneurs
(Flickr, photo credits: Ian Mutto)
If you are a startup with a woman on the team, and looking for additional funding, you can now apply for the Astia venture accelerator program for women-led high growth companies.
Astia, the premier Silicon Valley will host its Second European Investor Forum on 24th June 2010, following its ‘Doing it Right’ London Programme which takes place from 4th-7th May this year in cooperation with The NextWomen.
Known for its greater than 58% funding success rate, the eleven-year-old organisation is already achieving exceptional results in the UK, having launched here just last year. The success of Astia’s clients is credited to the broader Astia Community that sources, selects, and advises the companies that qualify for Astia’s prestigious programme.
“Astia has truly cultivated the networks required to source and showcase the next leaders in innovation and it continues to demonstrate the investment opportunity hidden in women entrepreneurs,” commented Prashant Shah, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners and Astia Board Chair.
The Doing It Right programme is open to select companies pursuing high growth, primarily from the high-tech, life science, media and clean-tech sectors. Participant companies receive access to a robust community of investors, entrepreneurs, corporations, and value-add service providers. Astia has cultivated a network of both men and women who lend their expertise and networks to accelerate the success of the companies.
“Our involvement in the Astia Doing it Right programme and Investor Forum in London has been fundamental to our business,” commented Elinor Olisa, Co-Director and Founder of Degree Art.com, a UK-based online portal for buyers interested in acquiring art from emerging artists. “We recommend Astia without a moment’s hesitation. It is a one-of-a-kind program that is absolutely packed with essential guidance, lessons, networking opportunities and support.” Read more
Breaking the VC Funding Glass Ceiling for Female Entrepreneurs
Astia, Spring Board Enterprise and a few other organisation are supporting high growth women-led companies to attract VC funding. The question arises why there should be a specific women focus when it comes to helping with funding. In this video, Kay Koplovitz of Spring Board Enterprises explains the reasoning.
If Only We Could Bottle The Essence of These (Entrepreneurial) Women
This is a guest post by Lou Hamilton, owner of Createlab, where she makes feature films and documentaries about inspiring people. She is also organizer of a women in business networking group in London for which she created a short film series Women Talking Business.
There are so many inspiring women in business who are balancing their home, family and work lives and who are a shining light to other aspiring people. I recently want to the We Mean Business conference run by Business Link in London. The aim was for women to come together, meet, support, encourage, befriend and connect with each other. There were several keynote speakers whose passion, determination and courage were infectious, such Steph Cutler, Penny Power of E-Cademy and Shaa Wasmund of Smarta.
If life deals you lemons, what do you do? Make Lemonade!
One of them was Steph Cutler who overcame sudden blindness but defied “the bastards who wouldn’t employ me” to build a successful business helping others with disabilities. She encouraged us to see obstacles as opportunities not setbacks. In fact she says there were times when she found her blindness was to her advantage, for instance when she started public speaking she couldn’t really see the audience so it made her feel braver and now she loves it. She forced herself live with her disability in a way that meant living her life to the fullest. As she jokes- if life deals you lemons, what do you do? Make Lemonade! It has not been an easy journey but it has been a rewarding one.
Our personalities are our greatest asset, not what we are selling.
Penny Power who runs the social media site Ecademy spent 12 years building up her business, losing her family house along the way as she and her husband struggled to make ends meet. But she was determined to be a full-time mum (and a great one at that) at the same time as creating a successful business around the then entirely untried idea of globally connecting with people online. She stuck it through the tough times, held on to her dream, balanced her steps along the tightrope and finally it all came together.
She encourages us to make an assumption of trust of people- to make friends with others, to connect, to engage, to share ideas and contacts, to give, to listen, to offer yourself to the world community, to be there for others, to offer help, to ask for help. Read more
Women Executives have a Natural Advantage in Demand Creation
Jeff Saperstein and Hunter Hastings are authors of Bust the Silos: Opening Your Organization for Growth now available in e book and soft cover versions. In this article for The NextWomen they provide an insight into their theory of collaboration as a driver of growth.
Jeff Saperstein (in Paris)
Demand Creation will be the driving force for businesses to achieve sustained, profitable growth for the next decade. Simply, demand creation is the improvement of collaboration—based on new business processes supported by technology—enabling organizations to be more customer-centric and responsive.
So why is this so important for the woman entrepreneur and innovator? Since women are intuitively more collaborative and customer responsive, Demand Creation leverages natural management skill sets the next women leaders can leverage to successfully grow their businesses.
Four profoundly significant business revolutions are coming together in a perfect storm of innovation: the digital revolution, a business process revolution, a business organization revolution and the Internet revolution. Successful companies will learn to reshape their R&D, marketing, sales and IT functions and job specifications within a new customer-centric organization paradigm to take account of these changes.
A new customer-centric organization: From Inside Out to Outside In
The fundamental change is a reversal of the flow of the corporation from inside-out to outside-in. All the activities of the corporation that were outbound—R&D, sales, marketing, advertising, promotion, service centers—must now be reversed. The customer decides when they have a need and when they are ready to listen to information or receive a service from a company that might be able to meet that need. The company must restructure so it can anticipate and respond. Read more
Fund Raising Secrets for Female Entrepreneurs
Female entrepreneurs who are able to find an investor for their plans are able to put a request forward to The Aspire Fund to match the investment by the investor. Everyclick, Alcator and TalentPuzzle were able to attract double funding in this way.
But what are the secrets of the business plan and pitches of these entrepreneurs? The Aspire Fund, Connect London and The NextWomen, as media partner, are organizing an event on Tuesday 9th March in London called:
“Fund Raising Secrets for Female Entrepreneurs” (Tickets to be booked click link)
Serial entrepreneur Christopher Fogg and James Garder will talk about Killer Business Plans that Raise Funds. But there will also be a talk about bootstrapping secrets for how to start and grow a successful company with almost no money.
Cary Marsh Of MyDeo: How She Raised Funds (3 times)
Moreover, Cary Marsh of Mydeo will be there to explain how she raised funds for her succesful business. Cary Marsh launched her company in response to a need to share family videos across the globe, following a DTI Research and Development grant for Technical Innovation. She announced in October 2007 that Best Buy, the largest consumer electronics retailer in the US with market cap of over $20bn, were taking a minority equity stake in mydeo, and would be using the Mydeo platform for its own bespoke video sharing service. The site has continued to grow since it’s first injection of cash, and went on to enjoy second round funding from Best Buy and a third from Best Buy Capital, and has since branched out into video streaming for businesses.
Aspire Fund: The Criteria Read more
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