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Twestival Global London is set to Raise Money for Concern Worldwide
Thursday March 25th 2010 will see people meeting in cities across the Globe, ‘Using Social Media for Social Good’. Now in it’s second year, the event, which uses the power of Twitter for marketing, aims to bring people together offline at locally held events in an attempt to improve education, have fun and create awareness.
With this year’s theme of Education, all (and they mean 100% of) ticket proceeds go to Concern Worldwide, which aims to make education accessible to the some 72 million children across the world that presently have no opportunity to go to school.
Last year saw:
- Involvement from 202 cities
- 1,000 volunteers
- 10,000 donors
- Funds raised of over $250, 000
As those involved gave money to improve access to safe and clean water for the 1 billion who currently do not have this.
Concern Worldwide Read more
The Clinton Global Initiative is Empowering Girls and Women Through Information and Communication Technologies
![Laptops for children in Africa cc: Flickr Lil[Kristen Elsby]](http://thenextwomen.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/laptop_flickr-LilKristen-Elsby.jpg "laptop_flickr Lil[Kristen Elsby]")
Laptops for children in Africa cc: Flickr Lil[Kristen Elsby
Since 2005, CGI has:
- Brought together more than 100 current and former heads of state, 10 of the last 16 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, hundreds of leading CEOs, heads of foundations, major philanthropists, directors of the most effective nongovernmental organisations and prominent members of the media.
- Made more than 1,400 commitments valued at $46 billion
- Improved the lives of more than 200 million people in more than 170 countries
- More than three million people have better access to information technology
- More than $600 million has been invested in or loaned to small and medium-sized enterprises
- Almost three million micro-entrepreneurs have been empowered through microfinance
The 2010 CGI ation areas include: Empowering Girls and Women; Strengthening Market-Based Solutions; Enhancing Access to Modern Technology and Harnessing Human Potential. Of the 12 new initiatives/commitments in place to empower girls and women, 4 focus on the advantages of information and communication technology:
Plan USA and its Partners
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Commit over the next three years to:
- Train 140 adolescent girls from Ghana in media production and journalism skills, Read more
Start-up Interview: Female Entrepreneur Jenny Buccos of ProjectExplorer.org
Providing cross-cultural education without the cost of a flight is invaluable to children across the globe. With the recent launch of Brightwide – YouTube for Social and Politcal Cinema – we look at what is offered to children in an attempt to make the world a smaller place. Here, The NextWomen talk to female Entrepreneur Jenny Buccos of ProjectExplorer.org about the strengths of being a non-profit organisation, the effects her exposure to many cultures has had on her attitude to business and wishing she had founded Pandora.com Read more
Enter the Business Plan Competition for Women Entrepreneurs in Emerging Markets
There are still 6 weeks to participate in the “Women in Business” Challenge. Initiated by the BiD Network from the Netherlands, the challenge is a business plan competition that aims to support women entrepreneurs in Africa, Latin America and Asia who are seeking finance for their business. They will get assistance, templates, contacts and financiers to get their business started. The deadline for female entrepreneurs to enter the business plan competition is January 15th 2010.
The BiD Network engages thousands of entrepreneurs, experts and investors from all over the world to stimulate entrepreneurship and economic growth in emerging markets. The BiD Network sources and selects business plans of small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) in emerging markets. It offers tools, contacts and coaching to the best entrepreneurs, paving the way for them to access finance and start their business. The BiD Network actively seeks investors for growth SMEs with a financial need of $10, 000 to $1 million. Currently 23% of BiD Network’s business proposals come from women entrepreneurs.
Since 2005, BiD has organised 5 business competitions worldwide called BiD Challenges. It organises competitions on different themes such as nature or agriculture, and its most recent and specific of which is the: Women in Business Challenge.
Submit your application now and get support from a coach in writing your full business plan. Read more
Bindi Karia – Female Hero of the Month
Guest writer Lopa Patel, writes about our Female Hero of the Month – Bindi Karia.
How many technology startups have you been involved with? One, maybe two? How about 600, in just six months! This is the astonishing feat that Asian woman Bindi Karia, VC/Emerging Business lead for Microsoft UK, has achieved since the launch of the company’s UK BizSpark program in November 2008. Karia attributes her success in the field to being “in the right place at the right time”, although she acknowledges that working for the leading software company in the world helps.
Thirteen years in the UK, Karia’s formative years were spent in Canada leading the kind of diaspora life familiar to most Asians although she says it gave her the “global outlook” necessary for her current role. Now based in the UK, she loves London for being geographically central to her uncles in Kenya, where one runs a leading advertising agency, and her family in Canada. But life wasn’t always so easy.
Her work as a Senior Business Analyst at Data Monitor was followed by a stint as a Management Consultant at Coopers and Lybrand that then became PWC. Redundancy from PWC came as a major blow, one that she was careful to hide from her family for as long as possible. “I think the thing about redundancy is not to take it personally. It is not about you, it is about the role within the organisation. So have some confidence in yourself and look to your network for support”. Read more
Suzanne Mubarak joins Middle East Women in Business
Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, First Lady of Egypt, will make the keynote address at the Women in Business International Forum on 18-20 May 2009, where leading businesswomen and government representatives from the Middle East and the wider international community with their counterparts in the UK, get together.
An impressive number of high flyers are attending, such as:
- Harriet Harman QC MP, Leader of the House of Commons and Minister for Women and Equality;
- Lady Barbara Judge, Chair of UK Atomic Energy Authority;
- Sheikha Hissa Saad Al Sabah, President, Council of Arab Businesswomen; and
- Mme Dariga Nazarbayeva, Founder, ‘Khabar’ broadcasting agency, Kazakhstan;
Topics on the agenda are:
- international trade and economic development
- human potential – developing the next generation
- financing business growth and development;
- breaking down barriers in entrepreneurship;
- the power and influence of the media.
Several delegations of businesswomen from the Middle East and North Africa region are participating. Further information FORWOMENIN BUSINESS
Google Tours the Middle East
Gisel Hiscock of Google
Google, through its European Development Director Gisel Hiscock, has just finished its programme offering specialised training days, so called G-Pals Days, on the West Bank (Ramallah) to support local Palestinian software developers and entrepreneurs. The programme, which took place on March 24th for Software Developers and March 25th for Entrepreneurs, is supported by Palestinian ICT Incubator, the Palestinian IT Association of Companies, the US Palestininan Partnership and USAID from the American People.
In alignment with its core mission, “to organize all the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” the training is focused on localised tools to spur economic development for Palestinians. We contacted Gisel about the programme.
Tell us about the G-Pals Days?
“Supporting the developer community around the world is vital for the future of the internet: an active developer community means constant innovation and growth of the web. Google is committed long-term to providing tools and platforms that make web development easier and more powerful.
After a meeting in London coordinated by UK Trade & Investment, Google was invited by PICTI and PITA to support local Palestinian software developers and entrepreneurs. Thanks to UPP and USAID, Google is offering specialised training days in the West Bank, which follow a similar format to those we run around the the world.”
What is in it for the local Arabic developers?
“We are offering these training days to developers in order to spur local innovation, which in turn stimulates the global growth of the web. We look forward to interacting with local developers in the region.
Additionally, better local Arabic content online also means a stronger web. Currently, less than 1% of content online is in Arabic. Read more
International Women’s Day
International Women's Day March 8
Today is international women’s day, a day that honours the economic, political and social achievements of women. The day originated in 1975, when the United Nations began sponsoring it. Two years later, the UN adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed by Member States.
With more women in the boardroom and an increased number of women serving as role models in work or private life, things are looking good for women. But that many think true equality has not yet been achieved shows the global women’s organization Aurora by highlighting a number of women’s issues. Their worldwide register of IWD local events allows women and the media to find out about local activity on International Women’s Day. Read more
Ethical and Inspirational Holidays in India
Claire Prest, co-founder of Grass routes
Claire Prest has lived and worked in the Indian Subcontinent since 2000. More significantly she has travelled its length and breadth and quite simply fallen in love with the place.. In honour of this irrefutable bond and in gratitude of the countless people who have shared their genuine hospitality, she co-founded Grass Routes.
The premise of that business is to provide fantastic holidays for travellers whilst enabling them to engage with local communities by working in partnership with local people. In fact, Claire’s company does the best of both worlds, it provides a unique experience for holiday makers, whilst at the same time encouraging responsible tourism.
Proving that not all successful businesses have vast amounts of venture capital behind them, Read more
Much to do about a cheap laptop
The world’s cheapest laptop is going to cost 7,30 euro or 500 rupee, reported various newspapers this week.
The 'laptop' (picture by the hindu times)
The computer ‘Sakshat’ was presented by the Indian government as a way of enabling more Indians to be educated and bridge the “digital divide” in the country between the rich and the poor. The piece of technology has been created by the Indian government in cooperation with Indian universities and intended for students to access lectures, coursework and specialist help from anywhere in India. Read more
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