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Partner of
Luck has nothing to do with it- Van Leeuwen’s online adventures
Marianne van Leeuwen: founder of dutch price comparison site Miepkniep
It is a perfect morning in Amsterdam and sitting at a tiny bar table is a woman, Marianne van Leeuwen. Without saying a word, she radiates a playful energy coupled with an air of someone who seems to have it all. [You wonder to yourself at just why some people are so lucky?]
Marianne van Leeuwen has been on an online entrepreneurial adventure for the last 10 years. The founding of MiepKniep in 1998, the first Dutch price comparison website, was only the first chapter. Already though, it was evident from introducing a price comparison website to the Dutch culture in particular, a nation of traders over the centuries, that Marianne has a strength for good ideas. And running with them. Read more
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?
Start-up Interview: Remote Employment
Paula and mentor Karen
An amazing 3,4 million people in the UK work from home and many more millions have flexible employment, knows Paula Wynne, co-founder of remote employment. Her website is dedicated to home based, flexible and remote working and is promoting the idea that a modern day approach to working lives has many advantages; an increase in business productivity and competitiveness, reduction of transport congestion and a harmonisation of work and family commitment.
Since founding Remote Employment in January 2008, Paula has already been recognised as a pioneer in her field. She has been awarded for her business efforts to understand and reduce their impact on the environment and society by BT Business and charity Global Action Plan. In addition, she participated in the FreshIdeas Events competition for a mentor and was awarded, as one of ten promising businesses, a mentor in the form of Karen Darby, founder of comparison site simplyswitch. Karen will mentor and guide Paula for the duration of six months to achieve her business goals.
In our start-ups series, we talked to Paula about her company and her mentor.
How did you come up with the idea of Remote Employment?
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?
New kid on the web; fashion agent the Closet Bureau
We have seen websites such as net-a-porter and designer vintage take the net by storm. But there is still lots of room to conquer the online designer fashion world, shows recently launched the closet bureau, a website that takes designer fashion and sells it for you on Ebay. Acting as the agent operating between buyers and sellers, the Bureau takes care of everything from shipping to cleaning, to photographing the clothes.
Mentor and mentees matched at FreshIdeasEvents
Michelle Peers was matched to
...Polly Gowers of Everyclick.com
10 aspiring business women were successfully matched to a mentor by FreshIdeasEvents this month.
Aspiring businesswomen from across London entered a pitching competition for a chance to be paired with a business veteran that could offer them relevant advice and guidance on setting up or further developing their business. FreshIdeasEvents announced the winners of the competition this week in a ceremony at the BT Tower.
Some of the women with internet ideas that were matched were:
- Michelle Peers
Pitching Tips by Amazee’s Dania Gerhardt
Dania Gerhardt
Pitching your company to investors is a nerve-wrecking experience. It is a chance to put your start-up in the light it needs and to get the necessary financial incentives or expert feedback you require.
Dania Gerhardt, of online social collaboration forum Amazee, knows this very well, having participated in start- up events such as Techcrunch in London and Pitchcamp and Startup Ignite in Berlin.
TheNextWomen asked Dania for about her experiences of pitching the company she co-founded and what others can learn from it.
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How much money have you already obtained through external funding?
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
Women in management means protection against financial crises
Diversity benefits companies during the credit crunch (Pic:CC: chrisfry)
New research shows that firms with a higher ratio of women in management have better resisted the financial crisis. Nearly all of the French national press, papers such as Le Monde and Le Figaro have reported on this study of Michel Ferrary, a professor of Human Resources at CERAM Business School.
Using data from companies in the CAC40, the equivalent to the FTSE 100, it is shown that the fewer women a company has in its management, the greater the drop in its share price since the beginning of the year; and the more women in management, the smaller the drop in share price. The market currently values risk adversity. Read more
Launch bikini website Habinki
Habinki Website
Chloe Holding, one of thenextweb and thenextwomen’s mentees, has defied the credit crunch and launched her website HABINKI. The website offers a range of custom-made bikinis and necklaces.
Chloe set up Habinki from a passion she had for travelling to exotic places and buying clothes, translating these interests into designing bikinis and sourcing manufacturing and ultimately setting up her own e- business in sexy, glamorous and flattering swimwear for women. Read more
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