Nafije Prishtina is the owner and president of Tex Electronics-DAS, LLC, which provides engineering services in Software and Hardware development to the aerospace and defense industry.  Eleven years ago Nafije moved to the US from Kosovo, starting out from scratch in learning a new language, meeting new people and learning a new culture.

Nafije's goal has always been to own her own business, which is what

inspired her to pursue a college degree.  In 2007 she graduated from

Davenport University with a BBA degree with a concentration in Human Resources.  During her early professional career, most of her experience was in retail and health

services industries.  She notes that, "When I met my husband Ben, my personal and professional dreams came true; because in addition of Ben being a wonderful husband and father, he is also business savvy, and he gave me a head start learning about the defense and aerospace business."  

Nafije places high priority on continuously learning and growing personally and professionally.  She is currently immersed in efforts to learn about doing business with the Government. Nafije has a three year old daughter who is,  "the light of my life," and their family is expecting a second child.  She loves living in Huntsville and enjoys cooking, walking, swimming, traveling and spending time with family and friends.  

"I am very thankful for the WBCNA; I found this place to be such a great resource. The staff here is super friendly; they always have answers and are ready to help out. They have been supporting me with my business from the first day I visited their office -through WBCNA I have meet so many wonderful people-I will forever be grateful and supportive of this organization!"

Agency will begin accepting refinancing applications Feb. 28 for

small businesses facing maturing mortgages, balloon payments

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out a plan for winning the future by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building the rest of the world.  This week, the White House will hold a number of events to focus on innovation, and how we can create the jobs and industries of the future by investing in the creativity and imagination of the American people.

In February, White House launched "Startup America," a national campaign to help America achieve these goals by promoting high-growth entrepreneurship across the country with new initiatives to help encourage private sector investment in job-creating startups and small firms, accelerate research, and address barriers to success for entrepreneurs and small businesses. 

President Obama said, "Entrepreneurs embody the promise of America: the belief that if you have a good idea and are willing to work hard and see it through, you can succeed in this country. And in fulfilling this promise, entrepreneurs also play a critical role in expanding our economy and creating jobs. That's why we're launching Startup America, a national campaign to help win the future by knocking down barriers in the path of men and women in every corner of this country hoping to take a chance, follow a dream, and start a business."

President Obama continued, "Startup America also represents a historic partnership with business leaders, investors, universities, foundations, and non-profits, and we're urging others to join them in this effort. For entrepreneurs speak to what's best about America, and in their drive and innovative spirit -- in their willingness to take a risk on a bold idea -- we can see the future. We can see how America will compete and win in the 21st century global economy."

As a part of the White House's "Startup America" initiative, the administration will announce new initiatives and incentives to encourage the private sector to invest in new startups:

• The President's new budget will propose making permanent the elimination of capital gains taxes on key investments in small businesses, which was passed as a temporary provision in 2010 as part of the Small Business Jobs Act the President signed in September.  The budget will also propose expanding the New Markets Tax Credit to encourage private sector investment in startups and small businesses operating in lower-income communities. 
• The Small Business Administration (SBA) will direct $2 billion in existing guarantee authority over the next 5 years to match private sector investment funding for startups and small firms in underserved communities, as well as seed and early-stage investing in firms with high growth potential, through its Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program.  
• Together SBA and the Department of Energy will boost high-quality mentorship for cleantech startups, while the Veterans Administration is launching new training programs for Veterans who want to start new businesses.
• The Department of Commerce will expand the i6 Challenge to help foster the commercialization of clean technologies, and are finalizing a plan to allow entrepreneurs to request faster review of their patents, an initiative that should lower patent pendency times overall and speed the deployment of new ideas to the marketplace.

Some examples of the private sector and philanthropic commitments that will be announced alongside the launch of the "Startup America Partnership," the private sector initiative, are below:

•  Expand startup accelerators that provide seed funding and intensive mentorship, allowing the Astia network to serve twice as many women entrepreneurs, the MassChallenge competition to extend its national reach from Boston's Innovation District, and the new TechStars Network to boost the success rate of 6,000 entrepreneurs in 15 regions, including Miami, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, Nashville, and New Orleans. 
• Scale up programs that prepare K-12 and college students to start their own companies, such as the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Blackstone LaunchPad, Junior Achievement, National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, the Virtual Incubation Network for America's Community Colleges, and the Artists & Instigators Practicum.
• Increase corporate investment and support for startups from companies such as Intel, HP, IBM, Facebook, and others.
• Foster innovation and entrepreneurship in states and regions such as Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and New Orleans, building on the success of models such as JumpStart America and the Deshpande Foundation's innovation centers.

The WBCNA is planning on hosting another Direct Selling Expo in September 2011, but we're calling it the "Home-Based Business Expo" so it will resonate with the general public.  Anita Eno, Team National, has agreed to chair the event. 

As a reminder, the mission of the expo is to connect companies who have business opportunities (like Mary Kay, Silpada, and Amway) with individuals who are looking for them.  This is a great venue for those in the direct selling industry who are trying to build their organizations and promote their products or services.  Many of clients, and millions of Americans, are already in the industry or looking into it.

What is Direct Selling?

Direct selling is the sale of a consumer product or service, person-to-person, away from a fixed retail location, marketed through independent sales representatives who are sometimes also referred to as consultants, distributors or other titles.

Just about any product or service can be purchased through direct selling somewhere in the world. Many people think of cosmetics, wellness products and home décor as products that are often sold through direct sales, but add to that countless other product categories including kitchen products, jewelry, clothing, organic gardening supplies, spa products, scrapbooking supplies, rubber stamps and much, much more.

For more information, check out the Direct Selling Association (DSA) website at www.dsa.org.  For direct selling general FAQs, click here.