A lending page has been created to support Women's Businesses a World Away . . .
Hi,
I want to recruit you to my lending team, 3 Degrees - Connected™, on KIVA, a non-profit website that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur across the globe. You choose who to lend to and as they repay the loan, you get your money back.
If you join my lending team, we can work together to alleviate poverty. Once you're a part of the team, you can choose to have a future loan on Kiva "count" towards our team's impact. The loan is still yours and repayments still come to you, but you can also choose to have the loan show up in our team's collective portfolio, so our team's overall impact will grow.
3 Degrees - Connect™ is a women's organization which supports women's innovative interests in West Michigan. Read the post "Who Are We" to learn more about us. It is our interest to further the cause of women and children both here in West Michigan and abroad. Although you may select who you will lend to, we hope you will join us in supporting women-based businesses that desperately need your help.
http://www.kiva.org/team/3_degrees_connected
If you are interested in learning more about what we are doing, please send an email to best-wishes@charter.net or read future posts tagged "KIVA" about the women we are helping worlds away.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Product Give Away (Kickoff Event)
Here are the winners of our Product Give Away at the kickoff event for 3 Degrees - Connected, on Wednesday evening, May 20, 2009:
Click on Image to Enlarge
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Successful Event
Wednesday evenings 3 Degrees - Connected™ kickoff event was a great success. We had between 35 and 40 participants take part in our first of three annual events to create a space for women to connect with women and stimulate business in West Michigan.
At this event we had twelve women's businesses represented by tables, two support organizations, a hostess, and one local businesses man (and his son) who conducted the gold for cash exchange which brought money to our cause to support women's businesses in underdeveloped regions of the world.
Companies represented in the first 3 Degrees - Connected™ Event were:
The support organizations offering free advice included:
The Gold Buyers for our kickoff event:
At this event we had twelve women's businesses represented by tables, two support organizations, a hostess, and one local businesses man (and his son) who conducted the gold for cash exchange which brought money to our cause to support women's businesses in underdeveloped regions of the world.
Companies represented in the first 3 Degrees - Connected™ Event were:
- Stock, LLC (Stacey Krastin and Sarah Kallio)
- Jenifer's Cakes (Jenifer Walsh)
- Elemental Design (Karyn Streeting)
- Jillyn Segroves Photography (Jillyn Segroves)
- Legacy Love Letters, LLC (Margret Bazany and Lisa W. Lee)
- Essential Designs (Lori DeVowe)
- JR Design (Janet Rohrs)
- Bennett IMPS, LLC (Becky Bennett)
- Freedom Wand, LLC (Deb Tacoma)
- Jennifer Morse Photography (Jennifer Morse)
- Grand Haven Chiropractic Clinic (Julie Cech)
- Geneva Girls Designs, LLC (Rhonda Geneva)
The support organizations offering free advice included:
- Innovation Works of West Michigan (Anne Sailers)
- Muskegon Inventors Network
The Gold Buyers for our kickoff event:
- J Morgan, LTD (John and Grant Morgan)
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Who Are We
3 Degrees - Connected™ is being created to join women together in our community. The initial setup of this network has the following aim:
- stimulate economic growth for women-owned businesses,
- connect women to useful resources for running their businesses,
- create a portal of information that supports women in business,
- tell stories about the women behind the local business creating a personal appeal
- create a directory of women-owned businesses in our local community,
- provide links to women-owned business websites or "blogs",
- offer focus-group support to help make hard decisions about our products or services,
- inform our community about upcoming events
- create a forum for discussion about products or services
- support women's causes
- have fun running our business taking the edge off economic issues
Women-Owned Business Explosion
This story was reported by Business Week and is relevant to any women who may want to start her own business. Women are doing it and succeeding. Read on . . .
Business Week, May 19, 2009
'An Explosion' in Women-Owned Companies?
Despite daunting statisitics, resources and opportunities for female entrepreneurs are better now than ever, say experts
By Damian Joseph
Seven years ago, Nicole Loftus was entrenched in an $19 billion-a-year industry she felt was following an outmoded model. As a distributor of branded products, she served as an intermediary between companies that wanted products imprinted with their logos and the manufacturers that made them. Remarkably, neither side ever interacted. Loftus struck out on her own—against the advice of her family and then-husband—and began building what is now a multimillion-dollar company, Zorch International. The Chicago company offered an innovation to the branded-products industry's supply chain and changed how many corporations procure such products.
As a successful businesswoman, Loftus is defying statistics. According to Catalyst, a global nonprofit organization that tracks women in the workplace, only 28 of the 1,000 largest U.S. corporations have female CEOs. And women still earn 77¢ for each dollar made by a man, the Census Bureau reports. To that point, the first legislation President Barack Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a salvo against wage discrimination against working women that was meant to counter a 2007 Supreme Court ruling.
It can be especially challenging for women to establish companies seeking a broad reach, such as those that provide services for corporations—and securing financial backing can be nearly impossible. In 2008 only 6.8% of venture capital went to companies founded by women, according to Dow Jones VentureSource (NWS), a database that covers the venture-capital industry. Just one of five U.S. compamies with annual revenue of $1 million or more is owned by a woman, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. Just 3% of women-owned companies ever reach the $1 million mark, compared with 6% owned by men, the center says. "It was an absolute, 100% shock to me that there was still disparity between men and women in the business world," Loftus says.
That's not to say there's been no progress. Amy Millman, president and founder of Springboard Enterprises, has been connecting entrepreneurial women and investors since the early 1980s. Millman predicts that in the next four to five years there will be "an explosion" of women founding companies in science-based sectors such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, software, and clean energy. "Things that are cutting-edge—there are a lot more women in these fields now," she says.
Loftus finds it unnerving that so many people still think in terms of companies being "women-owned." Often, she says, corporations focus too much on who owns Zorch. They assume it's a tiny outfit, unable to provide a high volume of services, even though Zorch expects sales to leap to $36 million this year and top $100 million by 2011.
fastest-growing company in Chicago
Loftus started the company herself with the aid of angel investors, bank loans, and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. In 2008, Crain's Chicago Business ranked Zorch the fastest-growing company in Chicago, and Inc. magazine ranked it the eighth-fastest-growing in America. Inc. also ranked Zorch the country's No.1 company owned by a woman for its astounding 10,822% growth rate from 2005-2007. Loftus says the best advice she can give to aspiring women entrepreneurs is, don't take money from investors until you really need to. "Don't be afraid to not have money," she says. "You don't need money to serve a customer." Before Zorch, if a company wanted, say, Bic ballpoint pens with its logo printed on them for advertising or promotional purposes, it would do business with a distributor such as Corporate Express or Adco Marketing. The distributor would contact Bic, negotiate the deal, assist in the design details, charge a fee—and the two parties doing business would never speak. Loftus erased the middle man. Essentially, Zorch brought manufacturers to the table to speak directly with the corporations seeking their products. Zorch is essentially a portal that handles all sales and resulting transactions. Loftus says distributors weren't eliminated earlier because "when they got wind that one manufacturer was selling directly, they'd get together and blackball it—there are a lot of distributors, but it's a small world."
Zorch found a niche serving extremely large corporations that smaller distributors don't like dealing with. Loftus is fine with smaller profit margins if the volume's high. The company has worked with heavyweights such as AT&T (T), BP (BP), and Citigroup (C) in 120 different countries. Loftus says Zorch is thriving despite the recession, because it saves companies money.
The biggest challenge for women in starting succesful companies, Millman says, is they need to become more aggressive and less risk-averse. This would include women more confidently marketing their expertise and forging ahead with potentially valuable business ideas despite market conditions. "The resources are actually more plentiful and it's much cheaper to start a business now than a decade ago," she says.
Joseph is an innovation and design writer for BusinessWeek, based in the Chicago bureau.
Business Week, May 19, 2009
'An Explosion' in Women-Owned Companies?
Despite daunting statisitics, resources and opportunities for female entrepreneurs are better now than ever, say experts
By Damian Joseph
Seven years ago, Nicole Loftus was entrenched in an $19 billion-a-year industry she felt was following an outmoded model. As a distributor of branded products, she served as an intermediary between companies that wanted products imprinted with their logos and the manufacturers that made them. Remarkably, neither side ever interacted. Loftus struck out on her own—against the advice of her family and then-husband—and began building what is now a multimillion-dollar company, Zorch International. The Chicago company offered an innovation to the branded-products industry's supply chain and changed how many corporations procure such products.
As a successful businesswoman, Loftus is defying statistics. According to Catalyst, a global nonprofit organization that tracks women in the workplace, only 28 of the 1,000 largest U.S. corporations have female CEOs. And women still earn 77¢ for each dollar made by a man, the Census Bureau reports. To that point, the first legislation President Barack Obama signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a salvo against wage discrimination against working women that was meant to counter a 2007 Supreme Court ruling.
It can be especially challenging for women to establish companies seeking a broad reach, such as those that provide services for corporations—and securing financial backing can be nearly impossible. In 2008 only 6.8% of venture capital went to companies founded by women, according to Dow Jones VentureSource (NWS), a database that covers the venture-capital industry. Just one of five U.S. compamies with annual revenue of $1 million or more is owned by a woman, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. Just 3% of women-owned companies ever reach the $1 million mark, compared with 6% owned by men, the center says. "It was an absolute, 100% shock to me that there was still disparity between men and women in the business world," Loftus says.
That's not to say there's been no progress. Amy Millman, president and founder of Springboard Enterprises, has been connecting entrepreneurial women and investors since the early 1980s. Millman predicts that in the next four to five years there will be "an explosion" of women founding companies in science-based sectors such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, software, and clean energy. "Things that are cutting-edge—there are a lot more women in these fields now," she says.
Loftus finds it unnerving that so many people still think in terms of companies being "women-owned." Often, she says, corporations focus too much on who owns Zorch. They assume it's a tiny outfit, unable to provide a high volume of services, even though Zorch expects sales to leap to $36 million this year and top $100 million by 2011.
fastest-growing company in Chicago
Loftus started the company herself with the aid of angel investors, bank loans, and the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. In 2008, Crain's Chicago Business ranked Zorch the fastest-growing company in Chicago, and Inc. magazine ranked it the eighth-fastest-growing in America. Inc. also ranked Zorch the country's No.1 company owned by a woman for its astounding 10,822% growth rate from 2005-2007. Loftus says the best advice she can give to aspiring women entrepreneurs is, don't take money from investors until you really need to. "Don't be afraid to not have money," she says. "You don't need money to serve a customer." Before Zorch, if a company wanted, say, Bic ballpoint pens with its logo printed on them for advertising or promotional purposes, it would do business with a distributor such as Corporate Express or Adco Marketing. The distributor would contact Bic, negotiate the deal, assist in the design details, charge a fee—and the two parties doing business would never speak. Loftus erased the middle man. Essentially, Zorch brought manufacturers to the table to speak directly with the corporations seeking their products. Zorch is essentially a portal that handles all sales and resulting transactions. Loftus says distributors weren't eliminated earlier because "when they got wind that one manufacturer was selling directly, they'd get together and blackball it—there are a lot of distributors, but it's a small world."
Zorch found a niche serving extremely large corporations that smaller distributors don't like dealing with. Loftus is fine with smaller profit margins if the volume's high. The company has worked with heavyweights such as AT&T (T), BP (BP), and Citigroup (C) in 120 different countries. Loftus says Zorch is thriving despite the recession, because it saves companies money.
The biggest challenge for women in starting succesful companies, Millman says, is they need to become more aggressive and less risk-averse. This would include women more confidently marketing their expertise and forging ahead with potentially valuable business ideas despite market conditions. "The resources are actually more plentiful and it's much cheaper to start a business now than a decade ago," she says.
Joseph is an innovation and design writer for BusinessWeek, based in the Chicago bureau.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Inspiration
A friend sent this post to me and I felt that it was appropriate to share with you. I didn't write this article, but it is inspiring and this is an excellent example of women empowering women & girls.
by Cynthia Kersey
The author of Unstoppable and Unstoppable Women, Cynthia is raising $1m to build schools in Africa as part of her work in the Unstoppable Foundation.
The best way to predict the future is to create it. ~ Peter Drucker
If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others...
I've been writing about Unstoppable people for well over a decade and what I've found is that living an unstoppable life always involves giving. People who give and are involved in a purpose that is greater than themselves are the happiest people and live the richest and most meaningful lives imaginable.
I have definitely experienced that in my own life and have found that nothing that I do gives me greater joy than when I am in service to others. I've been blessed to be a part of many service projects around the world and in November, 2006, I had an experience that has taken my calling to do this work to a whole new level.
In November, 2006, I went to Africa with 40 women from North America to attend a first-ever Grassroots African Women's Conference in Bondo, Kenya. We were greeted by 440+ rural East African Women who were there for the conference as well and each night we laughed, danced and sang together as we connected with each other as sisters.
During the day, we attended sessions and listened to the powerful stories of these courageous women who shared how they were dealing with fundamental issues like making sure their children are fed, getting clean water for their families to drink, preserving food to get them through times of drought, treatment and prevention for Malaria and HIV, taking care of orphans with HIV, and providing an education for their children so they could create a hopeful future for their families.
These women never get a day off from hauling water and firewood, cooking, cleaning, and the drudgery of daily living and never travel more than 10 miles beyond their village. Yet, here they were, many of them traveling great distances to attend this conference to share their stories and take home solutions that could help them create a more optimistic future for their families.
I was inspired by the women's optimism and the commitment to lift themselves and their communities out of the cycle of extreme poverty. They experience daily challenges that I could not even imagine and their stories profoundly impacted me. I took home the heart of these East African women promising to do something to support them in changing the future for themselves and for their children.
The UnstoppableGivingChallenge.com is the result of that promise. I have learned that the key to helping these women and children will come not from waiting for the government to step in and do something. It will come when caring and committed people join together to provide aid, resources, and equipment DIRECTLY to the people who are already making a difference on the ground.
How can you use your unique voice and talents to heal this planet? When we collectively bring our gifts and our talents to the world, we will create a world of love, compassion and power that this planet has not yet seen. And when we experience the true miracle of giving, both the giver and the receiver are healed.
by Cynthia Kersey
The author of Unstoppable and Unstoppable Women, Cynthia is raising $1m to build schools in Africa as part of her work in the Unstoppable Foundation.
The best way to predict the future is to create it. ~ Peter Drucker
If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others...
I've been writing about Unstoppable people for well over a decade and what I've found is that living an unstoppable life always involves giving. People who give and are involved in a purpose that is greater than themselves are the happiest people and live the richest and most meaningful lives imaginable.
I have definitely experienced that in my own life and have found that nothing that I do gives me greater joy than when I am in service to others. I've been blessed to be a part of many service projects around the world and in November, 2006, I had an experience that has taken my calling to do this work to a whole new level.
In November, 2006, I went to Africa with 40 women from North America to attend a first-ever Grassroots African Women's Conference in Bondo, Kenya. We were greeted by 440+ rural East African Women who were there for the conference as well and each night we laughed, danced and sang together as we connected with each other as sisters.
During the day, we attended sessions and listened to the powerful stories of these courageous women who shared how they were dealing with fundamental issues like making sure their children are fed, getting clean water for their families to drink, preserving food to get them through times of drought, treatment and prevention for Malaria and HIV, taking care of orphans with HIV, and providing an education for their children so they could create a hopeful future for their families.
These women never get a day off from hauling water and firewood, cooking, cleaning, and the drudgery of daily living and never travel more than 10 miles beyond their village. Yet, here they were, many of them traveling great distances to attend this conference to share their stories and take home solutions that could help them create a more optimistic future for their families.
I was inspired by the women's optimism and the commitment to lift themselves and their communities out of the cycle of extreme poverty. They experience daily challenges that I could not even imagine and their stories profoundly impacted me. I took home the heart of these East African women promising to do something to support them in changing the future for themselves and for their children.
The UnstoppableGivingChallenge.com is the result of that promise. I have learned that the key to helping these women and children will come not from waiting for the government to step in and do something. It will come when caring and committed people join together to provide aid, resources, and equipment DIRECTLY to the people who are already making a difference on the ground.
How can you use your unique voice and talents to heal this planet? When we collectively bring our gifts and our talents to the world, we will create a world of love, compassion and power that this planet has not yet seen. And when we experience the true miracle of giving, both the giver and the receiver are healed.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Kickoff Event - May 20, 2009
Kickoff Event
Date: May 20, 2009 (Wednesday)
Time: 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Location: Spring Lake Presbyterian Church760 E. Savidge Road,
Date: May 20, 2009 (Wednesday)
Time: 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Location: Spring Lake Presbyterian Church760 E. Savidge Road,
Spring Lake, MI
Meet the resourceful women of West MI who are trying to stimulate the local economy through their innovative businesses.
Network and learn about local organizations that can support you to set up a business.
Exchange – business cards and brochures to let others know about you.
Receive Cash – for your old gold and silver jewelry and coins (J. Morgan LTD, a local licensed jeweler will appraise your pieces and give you cash for its value).
Stimulate Interest in West MI women-owned businesses – learn how we plan to use social media to stimulate interest in our local area.
Support a Cause – help women in under-developed regions of the world by making a small donation (KIVA.org - micro-lending) – “pay it forward”
Network and learn about local organizations that can support you to set up a business.
Exchange – business cards and brochures to let others know about you.
Receive Cash – for your old gold and silver jewelry and coins (J. Morgan LTD, a local licensed jeweler will appraise your pieces and give you cash for its value).
Stimulate Interest in West MI women-owned businesses – learn how we plan to use social media to stimulate interest in our local area.
Support a Cause – help women in under-developed regions of the world by making a small donation (KIVA.org - micro-lending) – “pay it forward”
Participate in a drawing to receive a one of several innovative products developed right here in West Michigan at the end of the evening.
Need more information?
Need more information?
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