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                                                                                 Summer 2008
              Womenable E3 News
In This Issue
E1: International Initiatives
E2: WE Tube
E3: Research Results
The double bottom line for women of color: cash and community

Asian woman

Womenable is working with Count Me In's "Make Mine a Million $ Business" initiative to better understand women business owners who are seeking to grow their firms to the million-dollar level.

Last fall, we took a special look at the 35% of the M3 community who are women business owners of color, and that report is now publicly available. How do women of color differ from majority women business owners with respect to their growth goals and motivations?

Find out here.
Quick Links
New Women-Focused Initiatives

Women Leading for Livelihoods initiative

10,000 Women program

Women Can campaign


WE Tube

Afghani women business owners

Cape Verde

CEO Women

NAWBO

Palestinian women

BBC story on WBOs in UK

SBTV

HSBC-Erika Watson

Inc.tv women's page


New Research Results

GEM Women and Entrepreneurship report

WB Women Doing Business in Africa report

CWBR Women of Color symposium/research
Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf photo
"When I go into the countryside and meet young girls, when we ask them 'What do you want to be when you grow up?,' they say 'President!' "
 ~ Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia.
(Liberia celebrates its national independence day holiday on July 26. Other national holidays celebrated in July include:
the United States (July 4), France (14), Belgium (21), Egypt (23) and Peru (28))
E3nabling News

It is our goal, in this quarterly newsletter, to provide a concise digest of news, information and links to 1: educate, 2: enlighten and 3: empower your work on behalf of nascent, new, established and growing women-owned enterprises around the world.
 
Our subscribers come from all walks of life - businesses large and small, NGOs and MLOs, associations, the public sector and educational institutions - yet all share a common interest in supporting women's enterprise development in their communities and around the world. We hope you find this information of interest.
 
 E1ducate: New Women-Focused International Initiatives

market womenWe know that helping women helps communities, and that the most successful efforts take into consideration the multiple roles that women play during their lives. Here are three new initiatives targeting women in the developing world, focused on economic empowerment, business education, and leadership:
  • Economic Empowerment - The United Nations Women Leading for Livelihoods initiative: This effort is being launched by the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, and is designed to promote economic empowerment for refugee women and girls around the world. Learn more at the UNHCR web site.

  • Education - Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Women program: This effort, launched earlier this year, is a business education campaign designed to impart university-based business education to 10,000 women in the developing world. Learn more at the 10,000 Women web site.
  • Leadership - Vital Voices' Women Can campaign: Launched in March, this effort will get women business leaders involved in being mentors and role models to up and coming women leaders in the developing world, as well as financial support for leadership development efforts. Click here to learn more.
 E2nlighten: WE Tube
Interesting videos on women's entrepreneurship

woman with video camera

The availability and popularity of web-based video has risen dramatically in recent months, with greater broadband availability, and with the growing popularity of the You Tube web site. But, while much of the video content on You Tube seems to consist of bloopers, amazing pet tricks, and family videos, did you know that there is some very interesting women's enterprise-related content there as well? We've done some sifting, and offer a few links for your viewing enjoyment:
In addition to You Tube, more and more organizations are posting videos on their own web sites, newspapers are posting video content from their reporters, and there are a growing number of web-based "TV" stations, too. Here is some other interesting "WE Tube" content out there on the web:
  • SBTV (Small Business TV) has numerous video podcasts of interest to women business owners, including a women-focused page. Also, check out the engaging keynote address of Latina entrepreneur Nely Galan recorded at the recent NAWBO conference in Phoenix. (NB: it's 30 minutes long)
  • Watch Prowess executive director Erika Watson speak about women's enterprise on HSBC's Business TV.
  • Inc. magazine has an Inc.tv page containing a variety of interesting video podcasts, including a women's page.
E3mpower: New Research Results

Since the publication of our Spring issue, several new research studies have been announced, which you may wish to learn more about, download, and save on your 'womenabling' reference shelves. Here are the highlights and relevant links:
  • The World Bank has recently published Doing Business: Women in Africa, a report profiling seven African women entrepreneurs, and highlighting some of the Bank's recent analysis of the impact that leveling the legal and regulatory playing field can have on the growth of women-owned firms in the region. Click on the link above to download the report, and click here to learn more about the World Bank's women-focused initiatives.
  • The Center for Women's Business Research held a symposium in May discussing its three-year look into Accelerating the Growth of Businesses Owned by Women of Color. Click here to learn more about the symposium, and about new estimates of the number of firms owned by women of color. A report on the three-year study is forthcoming.
We encourage your feedback and comments, as well as your help in spreading our "womenabling" news. Feel free to click below to forward this e-mail to others you feel would be interested in any or all of the articles above. And let us know if there are any aspects of women's enterprise development that you feel we should investigate and share more broadly.
 
Sincerely,
Julie R. Weeks
Womenable