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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
Forbes Woman: Empower Women Entrepreneurs to Grow Their Businesses
Investing in women business owners is not just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do, according to an interesting article by Forbes author Maria Pinelli. She says: “Another idea that deserves attention is empowering women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.” In the article she says that to help women-owned businesses grow and create jobs, we need to improve their access in three key areas currently not being met:
- access to capital,
- the global supply chain and
- business networks that can help them scale.
Read the full article at Forbes Woman.
The NextWomen Announce their 2010 Pitching Day
Join female entrepreneurs, managers and consultants of the Web at The NextWomen 2010 Pitching Day, Tuesday 16th March 2010, in group Workshops and 1:1 Clinics to learn the art & science of pitching skills for convincing investors, customers and partners to do business with you.
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The event, which consists of two morning workshops run in tandem, followed by an afternoon 1:1 business clinic in which entrepreneurs can tackle any business dilemma – large or small – with a selection of industry experts, allows entrepreneurs to optimise their pitching skills with a day designed to their own specific needs.
BOOK NOW
Tickets start from £75 for early bird – workshop only – and go up to £150 for full day tickets (morning Workshop + afternoon 1:1 Clinic).
Entrepreneurs can pick from one of two workshops:
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Workshop Option 1 – When, Where and How to Pitch to Investors
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How to find the Fastest Route to Funding
Learn how to:
- Choose the right financing approach for your business
- Pitch to different types of investors
- Make sure potential investors take note of your business plan
- Retain a majority stake of your business
For more information visit The NextWomen 2010 Pitching Day page
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Workshop Option 2 – The Art & Science of Pitching to Customers and Partners
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What your Body is Saying Behind your Back
Learn:
- The power to influence, present and communicate your value proposition
- How we influence and communicate our business ideas to other people
- How to influence people more effectively by developing and extending your range of non-verbal skills
- How to read and adapt your style to achieve the greatest impact.
- The art & science of non verbal communication
For more information visit The NextWomen 2010 Pitching Day page
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1:1 Business Clinic
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Building on knowledge gained in the previous workshops, entrepreneurs will get in-depth 1:1 help and support on issues of their choice, tailored exactly to their needs through the use of exercises and advice from an expert of their choice.
For more information on the experts in attendance, possible topics for help and how it works, visit The NextWomen 2010 Pitching Day page.
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DETAILS
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| Date: | Tuesday 16th March 2010 |
| Location: | Sun Microsystems, Regis House, 45 King William Street, London, EC4R 9AN |
| Workshops: | £75 Early bird – Before March 1st (Includes drinks and refreshments) |
| £100 Full price – After March 1st (Includes drinks and refreshments) | |
| Full Day: | £150 (Includes workshop, 1:1 time with 2 experts, lunch, two snacks and drinks) |
Female Entrepreneurs Join The NextWomen for their Second Paris Meetup
The NextWomen’s first networking event of 2010 took place this week in Paris, on January 5th at cafe Elgi in the 2eme. The event was hosted by Joana Picq (COO of the NextWomen) and sponsored by Pamela Poole, founder of Francophilia. A dozen women from Europe and the US, who are currently doing business in France, came together to talk entrepreneurship.
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The exchange proved to be very helpful, as fellow female entrepreneurs helped each other with insights, industry tips and contacts. Among the topics discussed were:
- Best tactics to win new customers – from simple networking to linkedin, viadeo and facebook ads
- Hot-desking – how to find office space for rent in Paris, through networks, websites and startup office buildings
- How to find a good technical partner or team
- How to choose the right business structure in France – finding an accountant or “boutique de conseil” to choose from SARL, SA, EARL, etc
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Here are some of the interesting ladies who joined us: Read more
The NextWomen Announce Their 2010 Strategy Day for Female Entrepreneurs
The NextWomen Networking at Sun
The CBC Centre at Sun Microsystems is set to host its second event in partnership with The NextWomen on Wednesday January, 27th 2010. Female entrepreneurs, managers, consultants and investors in the internet industry will welcome in the New Year with a day devoted to Strategy, including top web trends, and the key priorities and challenges entrepreneurs will face in the 21st century.
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BOOK NOW for tickets.
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The event, that is split into two constituent parts (a Strategy workshop and the evening event) includes:
Full-Day Program (3pm-10pm)
- Welcome to workshop attendees
- Blue Ocean Strategy Workshop from Natalie Turner of Entheo (4 Hands-On Modules)
- Evening Program (see below)
Evening Program (6pm-10pm)
- Welcome to evening cocktail reception attendees
- Web Marketing & Social Media Strategies
- Funding Strategies by Reshma Sohoni, CEO of Seedcamp
- Growth, Scalability and Consumer Strategy by panel of Entrepreneurs, including Wendy Tan-White, Founder and CEO of Moonfruit
- Networking with drinks and sushi
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The Details
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Evening Program
Enjoy a cocktail reception of drinks and sushi with your fellow female internet heroes, investors, business leaders and service providers while watching keynotes – on web marketing, social media, funding, growth, scalability and consumer strategies – and a panel of entrepreneurs.
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Reshma Sohoni |
Wendy Tan White |
Reshma Sohoni, who joined Seedcamp as CEO from the Venture team at 3i, previously worked on the commercial strategy team of Vodafone where she worked across Europe and Japan developing marketing strategies and pricing functions. Wendy Tan White, founder, CEO and serial entrepreneur of Moonfruit and Gandi.net, has a degree in Computer Sciences and comes from a family steeped in IT history. Not only did both her parents work within the industry, but at 64 her mother still does.
Full-Day Program
As well as the ‘Strategy Workshop – Focus on Value’ delivered by Natalie Turner of Entheo, the full-day program also includes full access to the evening’s events (see above). Read more
Tech-Savvy Women Play a Large Part in LeWeb 2009
LeWeb 2009 was yet another interesting web event, gathering a very international crowd of over 2,000 people, from which just over 350 were women. The location was exquisite, the heating system was working and although the food was far from the quality you’d expect in France, there was plenty of it for everyone.
The NextWomen Meetup Read more
Female Entrepreneurs Join Ladies Who Lunch at the British Library
This is a guest post by Mardi Latch, a pre-startup entrepreneur of an online ecommerce site Coax London and member of TheNextWomen.
On Women’s Enterprise Day of Global Entrepreneurship Week, November 18th 2009, Ladies Who Lunch held a networking event for female entrepreneurs at the British Library. Stepping in last minute and a budding entrepreneur herself, Mardi Latch – founder of Coax London – attended hoping to compare this with other free and paid for business events aimed directly at women.
Entrepreneurs at the ‘Thinking’ Stage Read more
Start-up Interview: Female Entrepreneur Iveta Tancheva of Mums Like You
Since the advent of the Internet, networks have become an increasingly popular way by which to share knowledge and experience with like-minded people. For Mums and parents, the ease of access to such information provided by these networks has meant online communities are rapidly playing as significant a role in their lives as offline ones are. Here Iveta Tancheva talks to The NextWomen about launching Mums Like You, the merits of using social media sites and funding a business when the banks are not yet interested.
How did you come up with the idea of your start-up?
I decided to set up Mums Like You, early 2009 when I lost my job in the City and was at home looking after my baby daughter. The idea was initially to create a networking site which enables new and first time mums to stay connected and find friends .
When I did research on what is already out there and what mums want, two things quickly became clear – that a lot of mums live away from their families and friends as a result leading them to feel quite isolated at times, and that they increasingly rely on the Internet to find the support and information they need when on maternity. In addition my research confirmed my own experience as a first-time mum – that word-of-mouth is an extremely important source of information. These findings were instrumental in extending the capabilities of Mums Like You to enable mothers to share valuable information and solve real-life problems online.
The Reviews section for example is becoming a place where mums share their opinions about products and services and find out what other mums think before making a purchase. Another example is the Marketplace area, which enables mums to list and sell baby kit they no longer need or advertise to find childcare help.
How did you form your team?
Mums Like You is an Internet based business, and at the moment does not require a large team or infrastructure to support it. The team is small and selected on the basis of their expertise and ability to contribute to the growth of the site. For example my technical team works remotely but is available on a 24-hour basis if there is an issue to be resolved. I also work closely with mum bloggers who are enthusiastic about building Mums Like You into a thriving community for mums online. What’s very exciting is that most of the members of the team are other mums, with their busy lives trying to juggle kids and family. So we don’t work office hours but we know that if we need to get something done we’ll do it even if it means working late nights.
How did you fund it, with how much money, and what is the business model?
I funded the business with personal savings, as I couldn’t count on bank finance at this very early stage of the development. The start-up costs were about £10,000, and the time I have invested in setting up and developing the company over the past months. Read more
Female Entrepreneur Launches Sprouter: Twitter for Entrepreneurs?
Sarah Prevette, Founder of Sprouter (right)
Last week Sprouter, an online networking tool for entrepreneurs that allows for collaboration and connection, was launched. Founder of Sprouter, Sarah Prevette, is also well known as the organiser of Twestifals, and although the seat of the startup is in Toronto, Canada, the setup is global.
What is Sprouter?
Sprouter asks entrepreneurs the question “What are you working on?” Answering this question encourages other members of the Sprouter community to offer tips, support, resources or other relevant members to connect with, all in 140 characters or less. Any member of the site can reply or give a reaction to a comment, or direct message for private information.
The problem that Sprouter wants to solve is that there is now an easy, effective way for entrepreneurs to connect in real-time online, and so an online community that allows small business owners and entrepreneurs to share links, ask questions, and share expertise with their peers is now needed. During the setup of the company, the name of the startup changed from RedWireNation into Sprouter, while its platform morphed into a Twitter look-alike.
Community of Entrepreneurs
“The power of social networking by individuals has been made more than evident, and Sprouter is striving to create that same sense of community and sharing for entrepreneurs,” said Sarah Prevette, Sprouter’s founder and CEO. “Entrepreneurs face struggles on a daily basis – from how to get funding to the best business tools to use. Sprouter can provide the forum for real-time networking and collaboration so everyone can benefit from mistakes and successes.”
Hashtags become topics
Sprouter members can create a topic around a concept, company, association, or event. This allows conversations around a specific topic to be streamlined, and facilitates discussion around events or subjects in real-time. Members of the Sprouter community can also use the search function to find entrepreneurs in their area or industry, or find others who are discussing a topic of interest (like “funding”).
Another Social Network?
Typical social networks allow you to connect with people you already know – whether they are your friends, family, or former co-workers. Read more
The NextWomen’s Highlights of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009 – Part 1
As Global Entrepreneurship Week draws to a close, The NextWomen reflect on the week’s events:
Wednesday 18th November – The NextWomen BIG Kitchen Dinner
Organised to coincide with Women’s Enterprise Day, the Big Kitchen Dinner saw 83 women and men leading and investing in web 2.0 ventures enjoy a keynote from Stephanie Phair of theOutNet.com. To get a taste of the evening, read the detailed coverage of Stephanie Phair’s speech and have a look at the complete set of photographs taken on the evening.
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Monday 16th November – Pitch 2009
The Pitch 2009, which has seen five regional heats over the past six months, came to its conclusion with the grand final at the Institute of Directors on Pall Mall, where Tony Lau and Cyclehoop were declared overall winners and bagging themselves £50,000 worth of business services.
A great collection of T-shirts from The NextWomen and Pitch 2009 Winner Tony Lau
A day of free seminars included a success story from Karen Darby who gave her ‘top tips on founding and running a business: Read more
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Extras
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