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Partner of
The Quality Living Network seeks mentor
Mirjam Spronk, founder of the Quality Living Network
Whenever we can, thenextwomen tries to bring together entrepreneurs so they can meet, match or work together.
A while ago, Mirjam Spronk got in touch with us, an aspiring entrepreneur who had the original idea to create her own yellow pages for professionals and tradesmen in New Zealand. Her business the Quality Living Network launched a year ago but now Mirjam is looking to grow and expand it. To help her do that, she is looking for mentors, which is why we interviewed her to find out a bit more about her business and why she is looking for mentorship.
Can you offer her useful advice, do you want tot tell her about your experiences with a similar business? Are you her mentor? let us know and we will put you in touch!
How did you come up with the idea of your start-up?
Help, what shall I wear? Are pink suits against business strategy?
No to pink suits?
Asked for a speaking assignment, the first thing, I would think of is: “Oh my G’d what shall I wear?’ Way before I know where to talk about, that’s the easy part.
Apparently many more women have the same question, also every morning when they dress for work. It made British firm Ernst & Young to hire image consultants for a class on how to dress for the office. However, in the small letters it read: “how to dress appropriately“. About 400 female accountants showed up, according to The Daily Telegraph, for the voluntary classes.
Low-cut tops, strong perfume or evening bags during daytime office activities are all no-go. And red lips and super high stilettos are also deemed inappropriate, at least for accountants. Colours should match skin and hair.
I can still remember that in 1992 a colleague at the law firm I worked at was asked not to wear bright pink. So it seems that has not changed.
So instead of dress to kill, it is dress to negotiate as dressing becomes an integral part of the business strategy to maximize achievement in firm and career…..
Google actively supports women engineers with a workshop and scholarships
Google organizes a Workshop for Women Engineers as part of its mission to encouraging women to excel in computing and technology, to recognize and reward deserving female graduate students in computer science, and inspire them to become active participants and leaders in creating technology.
Up to 75 female computer scientists will be selected to attend a 3 day all-expenses paid workshop at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California January 22 - 25, 2009. Read more
Optimistic interim managers see chance in recession
A new survey of around 10,000 Interim Managers shows that 70% feel that Interim Management is where they should be, in spite of the fact there are likely to be fewer assignments around, tougher competition for jobs and less pay. Many Interims are optimistic, convinced that in this climate of constant change, there will be a need for experienced Interim Managers to deal with change management projects, restructuring and recovery situations.
Forum for Interim Women
Women interested in the interim market and the opportunities currently out there for interim working in the UK, particularly in director- and executive positions, can get information through INTERIMWOMEN. The Chair of InterimWomen is Marta Matajz, Head of Marketing and Communications for Savile Group of companies. Read more
Interview with start-up Stylesorter
Founder of Stylesorter Julie Adams
Dresses smelling of cigarette smoke, jumpers with holes in them, wrongly sized shoes, Julie Adams, founder of stylesorter, has seen, but more importantly, has bought it all. But fed up with shopping on Ebay and realising that alternative search websites were few and far between, Julie decided to provide the solution to her own problem. It came in the form of a unique search engine which indeed allows you to search clothes, shoes and accessories according to style, garment type, fabric, brand and colour. Thenextwomen asked Julie how she found the process of launching her own online shopping website and what she has achieved and learned so far from it.
How did you come up with the idea for stylesorter?
What my male colleagues could learn from me
- Le geek c’est chic -
90% of Le Geek’s past and present colleagues are men. As a result, she has plenty of time to observe the male approach to work and business and how it differs from her own. Last week she shared her insights on ‘what she could learn from her male colleagues.‘ This week she offers a few lessons on what her male counterparts can learn from her.
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Your ego is not your friend:
Lesson: 'Listen like you mean it'
I have lost count of the number of times that male colleagues have acted against their own best interests in order to salve their ego. A typical example is where the Micromanager would accompany me to a meeting where I was doing a technical presentation. He, or some other attendee at the meeting, would invariably bring up some subject which bore little to no relationship to the task at hand but which he knew something about. Read more
What I learnt from my male colleagues
- Le geek c’est chic -
90% of my past and present colleagues (I work in IT) are men. As a result, I have had plenty of time to observe the male approach to work and business and how it differs from my own. Here are a few useful lessons I could learn from my male counterparts.
Just Say No (CC: donnamarijne)
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World domination is allowed:
A former boss, the Micromanager was brought in a few years ago to take charge of my business unit. While academically intelligent, he turned out to be an inexperienced manager with no knowledge of sales or negotiation. Unfortunately, all of the above were part of his remit. He learnt on the job and eventually became quite good. Read more
the 5 best US companies to work in
The best companies to work for (CC: Contra Costa)
The best companies to work in for women in the internet and technology industry are, according to online magazine Working Mother:
- Consulting firm Booz Hamilton
- Technology Corporation HP
- Computer company IBM
- Software company Microsoft
- Computer technology company Texas Instruments
- Internet, Tv and Phone service provider Verizons
The ‘winning companies’ are 5 from a list of 100 US companies that are ‘mom-friendly’. Read more
Launch: web portal for women Twffaha
women job portal twffaha
Good news for all Middle Eastern women. Twffaha, a web portal for job seeking Arab women , has launched.
Twffaha, is an online website that has women - only vacancies and job offerings, and a platform for employers to offer and seek prospective women employees.
The site is founded from the belief that women are an underrated asset in the Middle East and that, if recruited properly, they can guide economic growth and sustainability in that area.
The founder of Twffaha is make web entrepreneur and web strategist, Ashraf A. Aziz Mansoor, who got the idea for Twffaha in late 2007. Realising that different studies showed the rate of recruiting women in the region is far beyond the international rates, at a time when he was designing a job portal for a different purpose, he realised women were an underserved niche and a good way to compete with other job portals. The result was the launch Twffaha. Let’s hope there will be plenty of jobs for prospective female internet heroes!
Somen women bankers rise in credit crunch
Birna Einarsdottir
Some highly qualified women are taking the lead in the credit crunch. Elin Sigfusdottir and Birna Einarsdottir are set to become chief executives of the Icelandic now nationalised banks New Landsbanki and New Glitner. According to the FT, goverment officials said “it was a signal of a new culture” and “typical that women clean up after men make a mess..”. In the UK it is Baroness Shriti Vadera to have the key responsibility as Minister of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform of overseeing the government new bank stakes.
With women executives moving in, it is hoped that banks will increase their focus on women entrepreneurs. Read more
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