Articles
In
advance of the G20 Leaders’ summit scheduled for June in Mexico, 21 young women
representing the G20 nations and the African Union will gather in Mexico City from May 23rd to
31st, for the third annual G(irls)20 Summit.
Launched in 2010 at the Clinton Global Initiative, the G(irls)20 Summit highlights ways in which girls and women can play a leading role in global economic development and progress and generates tangible, practical recommendations for the G20 leaders to act upon.
“If G20 leaders are serious about economic growth, political stability and social innovation, they have in the G(irls)20 Summit, a unique source for finding solutions to global challenges. There are 3.5 billion girls and women in the world and therefore 3.5 billion ways to change the world,” said Farah Mohamed, President & CEO of the G(irls)20 Summit.
Susan Cooney
is Co-Founder and Head of Marketing & Sales at MahiFX, a new
proprietary-built foreign exchange trading platform which launched earlier
this year and gives retail FX customers access to same tight spreads and cutting
edge technology as institutional FX traders.
Prior to founding MahiFX, Susan worked in forex trading at investment banks. In mid 2004, whilst she was working at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein selling e-FX technology to UK banks, Susan was asked by colleagues David Cooney and Tim Cartledge to join the team moving across to Barclays Capital. David was later to become her husband and co-founder.
In 2005 Susan was asked to recruit and head up a new team to expand Barclays’ institutional e-FX sales efforts in Europe, where she took the controversial approach of hiring people based on their character, rather than experience. In what was probably an Investment Banking industry first, Barclays backed this initiative and what was jokingly referred to as ‘Barbie’s army’ was born. 8 people were hired from all walks of life. The initiative was a success, which contributed to tremendous growth in Barclay’s eFX market share.
Susan went on to hire teams in Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. Susan’s e-FX career has taken her to many countries of the world, meeting many people and has given her valuable insight into the requirements of an FX trader. Insight that has helped her to contribute to much of the MahiFX functionality.
Breaking in to big companies. It’s the fastest, easiest way to
increase your profits, make a difference in lots of people’s lives, and grow
your business beyond just the solo-entrepreneur or independent consultant
model.
So how do you do it? The obvious answer would seem to be: ask for the big opportunity.
She Means Business is a documentary about women entrepreneurs. This is from their campaign on Kickstarter:
Women Entrepreneurs are trailblazers. We create businesses… and the jobs, salaries, economic growth, and futures that follow have a powerful but little-known impact. As entrepreneurs ourselves, we are amazed at how rarely the media tells the incredible stories of women braving new frontiers, succeeding (and sometimes failing), and building legacies. We want to bring some of these astounding journeys to the screen.
SHE MEANS BUSINESS is a documentary about women entrepreneurs. We will show authentic, human stories of brave businesswomen to the world so everyone can see just what these wonder women do despite the challenges they face.
Our film has already had its own incredible journey with phenomenal women and men reaching out to help. We launched our Twitter @shemeansbusines on May 1st and have over 11,000 followers already!! Entrepreneurs, film enthusiasts, and supporters of women entrepreneurs are joining daily.
Kathy Douglass is CEO of The Greensheet, a Texas-based publication connecting local buyers and sellers, with nearly a million readers - the largest free weekly circulation in the state.
The Greensheet was
founded in 1970 by Kathy Douglass’s mother Helen Gordon, a tough entrepreneur
who faced incredible resistance from the male-dominated Texas business network.
Ms. Gordon showed great resolve in getting the company off the ground and
turned The Greensheet into a classified publication powerhouse By the time she
retired, Ms. Gordon had grown the company to one of the most successful in the
state.
Kathy picked up
where her mother left off in 1994, continuing the strong performance of The
Greensheet. In 2005, the company successfully entered the offset printing business
at a time when the move was very difficult to make. That same year, Ms. Douglass
managed to secure The New York Times as a client. The Greensheet has printed
the Houston edition of the Times as well as several other major publications
ever since.
The Angel
CoFund last week announced
the completion of its first five investments, with a total of £7.2 million
committed to UK SMEs.
One of the five businesses is female founded.
Business and Enterprise Minister Mark Prisk joined some of the first businesses to receive funding, following the end of a strong first quarter for the Angel CoFund, which was launched in November 2011.
Ahead of
Mother’s Day, first lady Michelle Obama thanked her mother, Marian Robinson,
for being her “rock” at an event she spoke at honoring military mothers and
wives for being “outstanding role models” for their children, communities and
country.
Like many working mothers, Mrs. Obama, a lawyer by training, has struggled with raising children while working a full time job (President Obama mentions the First Lady’s struggles in a White House Forum on Women and the Economy.) In 2007, she decided to go part time to spend more time with her children and work on her husband’s presidential campaign.
The Next Conference
in Berlin kicked off with a keynote by sponsor Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene
Obermann, who announced that Deutsche Telekom would be launching an
Incubator in Berlin later in the year.
He was also keen to
stress that they would in future be looking to partner more intensely,
in particular with small companies and there were a number of Deutsche
Telekom representatives at the conference looking to connect with
start-ups attending.
Sarah
Stanley is Founder & MD of Unique Home Stays, a multi-million pound
company which she has grown from a cottage industry (literally).
Unique Home Stays provides luxury private house accommodation to travellers and holiday-makers worldwide. Specialising in self-catering and bed and breakfast properties, the company has more than 140 homes in its exclusive portfolio; a number which continues to grow year on year. All of the properties marketed by the company are real homes rather than purpose built holiday accommodation, so they contain the character and quirks that you would expect from a well-loved family home, while maintaining an exceptional luxury standard.
Sarah had the idea for Unique Home Stays whilst working as a chef. She saw an advert in the newspaper looking for people to host students. Thinking ‘there’s no money in students’, Sarah came up with the idea of hosting travellers in luxury private homes, and the idea for her business was born.
Simon Conway and Edwin Groenendaal are behind a new Small Business Software Accelerator that will help 4 companies to have bespoke software with no upfront costs. The Next Women looked into it and talked to the initiators. Entrepreneurs can apply via www.condaal.com/sbsa
Upcoming Events
21 May 2012 - 09:00 - 23 May 2012 - 19:30New York, US
22 May 2012 - 09:30 - 24 May 2012 - 19:00Astana, Kazakhstan
