Douglas, ISLE OF MAN, 10 May 10 — Women in Business (WiB), an initiative of the Isle of Man Business & Innovation Centre (IoM BIC) is to become Forward Ladies Isle of Man, part of North England’s largest women’s support network.
The deal follows several months of discussion, including a presentation to WiB members in January, and means members will enjoy improved services, more networking and professional development events and a broad range of other benefits.
“WiB has been a successful group from day one. But with more than 150 members, a calendar of popular events and considerable interest from potential sponsors and corporate members, the time is right to move to the next level,” explained Kate Lord, WiB steering committee member and IoM BiC manager. “Forward Ladies is the right fit for us in terms of our mission, framework and resources.”
There will be a special, final, meeting of WiB for members wishing to find out more on 13 May, Amber Lounge Bar, 18.00. The event is being supported by Amber Lounge and Sleepwell Hotels and refreshments will be served.
Forward Ladies is one of the UK’s fastest-growing business networks with more than 10,000 members. Isle of Man joins Forward Ladies groups across the UK including newly established ones in Manchester and Liverpool.
Forward Ladies mission is “to promote and celebrate the engagement and participation of women in economic success by enabling women to be more confident in life and business through knowledge, contacts, support and friendship.”
“We embrace women from all sectors and stages of professional life,” said Etta Cohen, founder, Forward Ladies. “We offer a community for women to learn, share and encourage one another in a supportive environment. We welcome the women in business of the Isle of Man to our group.”
Membership benefits include:
networking events
partner events
special offers and discounts
online business directory listings
online membership forum
business missions to European and other destinations
The Daily Telegraph has picked up on the debate about so called ‘lipstick entrepreneurs. Read on:
“Lipstick entrepreneurs” are emerging from their beauty parlours and sleep deprived “mumpreneurs” are finally cleaning all that baby puke from their hair to become fully fledged “domestecutives”. Simply being in business is so 2009; new labels are the new black in 2010.Future Laboratory, a “trends” consultancy, has been paid by the nice make-up people at Avon to come up with this ludicrous list of typologies. It’s enough to make one mourn the passing of the “oh, so sensible” Noughties.
Even Theresa May, the shadow women’s minister, has lent her support to the research.Business woman Shaa Wasmund was among those forced to dispense with the New Year cheer and admit she’d been riled by such stereotyping: “I just wonder how men would feel if we coined a new phrase, like jockstrap entrepreneur,” she asks. Why stop there, Shaa? The five o’clock shadowpreneur, sounds a little dishevelled. And how about one for the new wave of building firms likely to emerge from the ashes of the construction crash: the bottom crackpreneurs.
Budge over, boys. The next decade will be women’s, if a recent forecast is to be believed.
“A tenfold increase in the number of female CEOs in FTSE 100 companies!”, “Double the number of female MPs!”, “100% growth in women-owned start-ups!” — these predictions come from the trendspotter Jeremy Baker, of ECSP Europe Business School.
At a recent Avon-commissioned discussion on the rise of “lipstick entrepreneurs” (otherwise known as independent businesswomen), there was breathless talk of female boards and millionaires, of a rise in househusbands and of the end of the pay gap and the glass ceiling. Shiny new names addressed a brand-new vision: “femterprise”, “domestecutives” and, of course, the “lipstick entrepreneur”. According to the Future Laboratory’s accompanying report, we are right at the tipping point of “femterprise”.
And the catalyst for this progress? The “mancession”, obviously (so named because it was men who were bitten hardest). With a nothing-to-lose attitude, women have been rolling up their sleeves and jumping in to bail out the boys. “Women deliver on a call to action,” says the UK president of Avon, Anna Segatti.
The recession necessitated enterprise — the report claims that the past 12 months have seen a significant growth in the number of women starting their own businesses and entering the workforce, often for the first time in their lives. There are now more than 1m self-employed women in the UK, and that figure is set to double in the next decade. In United States, meanwhile, businesses owned by women are growing at twice the rate of all American firms, according to Michael J Silverstein and Kate Sayre in their new book , Women Want More (Collins Business £18.99).
With job security still looking shaky, and childcare still largely the preserve of women, it’s easy to see the appeal of the start-up. This new class of “fempreneur” makes her work fit around her life — by being her own boss, she can choose her own (family-friendly) hours, preferred work/life balance and office location.
And for the “mumpreneur”, there’s no place like home. “Homeworking makes total sense,” says Suze Orman, a personal-finance expert and author of Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny (Spiegel & Grau £15.14). “I don’t have an office and I don’t have employees, but independent contractors. It saves me so much money.”
In the aftermath of what has also been called a man-made recession (blame it on those greedy male bankers), enter the right-brain revolution — one that values the feminine skills of intuition, communication and caring. The Future Laboratory argues that female methods make a lot more sense now: it’s risk awareness over risk-taking, teamwork over power struggles, inclusivity over hierarchy and striving for the common good, not bonus-based greed.
No wonder, then, that the recently launched Women’s Leadership Fund (worth some £124m and backed by Cherie Blair) is investing in firms that have high numbers of women in senior roles. Its research shows that companies with a balance of men and women in senior jobs outperform those with men at the helm. Yet while Norway has met its 40% quota for women in the boardroom, in Britain the figure stands at just 12%. And the current count of female FTSE 100 CEOs? Just four. Some areas clearly remain bastions of male power — but for how much longer?
The femterprise revolution is under way.
Click here to read the rest of this Sunday Times article
Norway and France are bringing in legislation forcing companies to welcome women into the boardroom. The HR Zone blog has an excellent post giving the details and arguing for something similar in the UK.
According to the blog, just over one in ten (11%) of the FTSE 100 company directors are women. This compares with now 44% in Norway since it legislated in 2003, and the intended French aim of 40% within four years. Click here to read it in full.
Posted December 4th, 2009by sherrilynneNo Comments »
Local amateur dramatics society, the Service Players, will be performing the hugely popular Steel Magnolias at the Gaiety next month and one of our WiB members, Deb Gwinnell is starring. (Where does she find the time?)
The story of six women in a Louisiana beauty salon opens on 8th October for three nights and is sure to have audiences laughing and crying in equal measure. The play follows salon owner Truvy, her inexperienced assistant Annelle and their clients: stalwart M’Lynn, her pink-obsessed daughter Shelby, witty Clairee, and sour-tempered Ouiser. Many people will know the play from the star-studded film adaptation in 1989 featuring Shirley Maclaine and Dolly Parton, amoung others.
Call 694555, or visit www.villagaiety.com, the Welcome Centre at the sea terminal or the Villa Marina for tickets.
Ladies! Get your business and shopping online! A shopping website exclusively for Isle of Man retailers has been launched this week. www.shopiom.com is an online directory of independent Manx retailers.
The site is part of an initiative by the Isle of Man Government to give the island’s independent retailers access to e-commerce opportunities. It also helps shoppers to find a wide range of exciting products by product category or geographical location.
So far more than 40 retailers have joined the site. Businesses are able to set up their own website via the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) assistance scheme and also have a listing on the directory. Retailers who already have an e-commerce website are also offered a free listing on the directory. It is envisaged that the directory will become a one-stop reference point for online shopping on the Isle of Man.
The Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon David Cretney MHK, said: “We recognise the importance of supporting the island’s independent retail sector. Retailers not only provide a varied and interesting shopping experience, which is a core part of any community. They are also an important part of the economy, providing jobs and paying taxes within the island.
Business is increasingly moving online and, if the retail sector is to remain competitive, it is essential that firms of all sizes are able to become established online. The interest from established local retailers exceeded our initial expectations and continues to grow. Also the scheme has enabled a number of small business start ups and home working entrepreneurs to realise their dreams of starting a retail business. I hope that many consumers will use the directory as a starting point for their online shopping. In short, this initiative is good for Isle of Man retailers, shoppers and Government and I wish it every success.”
Soo Cards, one of the first Manx firms to use the service, could not have achieved the growth they have without Shopiom, according to Director Sue Ellis.
“We had been planning to take Soo Cards online this year, so the DTI and Venda initiative came along at just the right time for us,” Mrs Ellis said. “The combination of the online shop and the Shopiom portal has had a major impact on our business, with orders now coming from the UK and Europe, as well as the Isle of Man. The support from both the DTI and Venda has been excellent, and has helped make the project a real success.”
Since starting, WiB has been contacted about a variety of events and offers from outside the business world – social and charity -ranging from sports to fashion.
How can you get your message out through the WiB network? The best, easiest and most effective way to share something you’re involved in that may of interest to WiB members is to post a comment or event on the Women in Business Linked In Group (we’re at 67 members) and also on the Facebook group page (56 fans). These are the most effective ways for you to get your message across and connect with others. Plus, it raises the profile of what you’re doing and helps members have a more direct and informative connection with each other.
If you have a short article on a subject you can also submit it for inclusion on this blog site. See this post for guidelines. It would be fabulous to have photos included with your articles too.
In addition, you can also communicate and interact by posting comments on the blog site – this is open to anyone and can be done at a few click of a button.
Don’t forget, you can also raise questions and discussion points and provide help and advice by any of these methods also.
So, share what you’re involved in with the wider network and enjoy making new connections through WiB.
Green & Black’s is one of the best-known food brands, and is one of the very few to be feted both for its quality and for its ethical credentials. The chocolate is not only delicious, it’s good for the planet – and for the people who produce it. Green & Black’s Chocolate focuses on organic and fairtrade production based on a practical and viable blueprint for sustainability.
Jo has been “green” since 1972 when she got into trouble at school for putting bricks in loo cisterns to save water! Having left school with minimal qualifications, she started a career in journalism and soon became the UK’s youngest-ever magazine editor at 23. She went on to become an environmental columnist at The Times and and co-presented a BskyB TV Show called Go For Green with David Bellamy.
She is Chair of The Soil Association’s Health Products Standards Committee, and helps to set the standards for organic and natural cosmetics in the UK, and is also “Matron” of the Women’s Environmental Network.
Jo created Green & Black’s with her husband Craig Sams, and together they wrote a book Sweet Dreams, in which they tell how their combined expertise in organic food, marketing, branding, integrity and ethics have helped grow and sustain Green & Black’s to a successful product.
John Wannenburgh of the Sporting & Dining Club said, “Whilst Jo Fairley’s name may not be as instantly recognisable as that of her creation Green & Black’s, her entreprenerial spirit, business acumen and loyalty to her green roots have given us all a wonderful product to enjoy. Her story is one of David vs Goliath and her marketing skills single handedly changed how chocolate is sourced and sold.”
For more information contact John on 07624 49 57 49 or at john(at) sportinganddiningclub(dot)com or see www.sportinganddiningclub.com
Dawn Webb, Sue Moore, Fiona Moore and Zoe Shepherd, all women in business at accounting firm Moore Stephens, completed 99 miles in the Parish Walk raising £1,000 for Noble’s Hospital Special Care Baby Unit.
Top row L-R: Zoe Shepherd, Pauline Smith, Dawn Webb. Bottom row L-R: Fiona Moore, Sue Moore
Do I have news? Yes, I have news. I stopped and thought about it and I’ve certainly learned about some interesting and relevant matters over the past few days.
Enterprise / Entrepreneurship undergraduate course to be launched for Isle of Man residents. Click here.
The Isle of Man is being represented at the Business North West conference in October.
Two of the companies being assisted by the Isle of Man Business & Innovation Centre’s incubation programme will launch this autumn. What are business incubators? Click here.
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Jo Fairley, the entrepreneur and co-founder behind ![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=9bfba24a-ebe3-427f-ad00-52cff7798be1)
