MYente

An impression of the seminar
'A world to be won – empowering of female entrepreneurship worldwide'

On November 17th an inspiring lively seminar was held in Amsterdam in order to make companies and organizations more aware of the important role that female entrepreneurs have in cultural and economical processes of innovative change. Yente and WO=MEN organized it together and 90 people registered for the full day event.

With their eyes worldwide open, nowadays many socially engaged women entrepreneurs are making connections towards creating a more colourful, responsible, diverse and equitable world. Stimulating equal opportunities for women far away can be easy, and inspiring too.

Asking the right questions
It can be a matter of being aware of how you run your business. What product or service do you want to sell? Who do you want to be supplied by? How do you want to invest your money and knowledge, who do you support when you fill in your lines of trade worldwide? Who has made those belts, bags and chutneys, and how many people inside her family or community does she take care of financially? How can we create our own controlled and transparant chains of trade, so that the craftswomen in Latin America or Botswana may have a fair share in the profits made in Western European boutiques?
Preferably with no child labour, exhaustion of earth and resources, with an equal share of more welfare and happiness of all parties involved. Including the final party: the buyer, who is happy with a quality product or service and a positive contribution to a fair world economy and environmental progress.

Sharing experience and good practices
Awareness of Corporate Social Responsibility and gender equity: there are a lot of good practices and energies to share. Now that’s exactly what happened during this sparkling networking day organized by Yente and WO=MEN in November 2009.
The majority of female entrepreneurs, some NGO’s, and some women from other backgrounds seemed to have quite some things in common: an interest in others, the world, new opportunities, and the wish for wellbeing and justice of the world we share, altogether. Not to mention the wish to make progress and profit, preferably in a responsible satisfying way.
Naturally there also was a healthy smell of networking businesswomen in the air. After all, a networking day offers new partners, customers, new opportunities. No time was wasted, no break was silent. Women took their chances: to make themselves visible and promote their 'thing', to get to know others and to find ways to cooperate and form new bonds. Business cards changed hands, products were presented on tables and services were explained.

Moving together
The day kicked off with the video documentary 'Moving Together' made in October 2009 by Joey Boink. Subject: the Yente trade mission of 21 passionate women entrepreneurs from Latin America visiting the Netherlands. The documentary showed that women from Peru and Bolivia tend to face quite some obstacles when entering markets.
Behind these 21 business women are the communities they support, which means that including the whole chain of production, subcontractors and employees, these women support as many as 1500 other people.
With the trade mission Yente matched them with female entrepreneurs and with potential business partners in the Netherlands, in this case by organizing a week filled with a dazzling amount of networking appointments. A good thing indeed, to empower them and their companies, especially since the Dutch matching parties were very impressed with the quality of the various products.

Connecting and involving
In the panel discussion that followed, a lot of gender related and strategic subjects came along. It became much clearer what participants of the seminar could do to involve colleagues from the South more often and more smoothly in doing business. Following are some quotes of the informative and inspiring contributions of the panel.

Angelica Senders from ICCO (organization for development cooperation active in 55 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe): 'Women might have fewer opportunities to travel and move. Therefore sometimes women’s businesses are small and don’t get complex. Networking can offer them a chance to grow and expand some more.' ICCO works on empowerment of the whole chain of production and trade in cooperation with women in developing countries.
Senders also announced the special Women in Business Challenge: A business plan competition for women entrepreneurs that seek finance for their business in Africa, Latin America and Asia and that do meet Social and Environmental requirements. Free coaching, feedback and support in writing your business plan proposals are available, and the winners of this B.I.D. competition can get financing, coaching and lots of helpful advise.

Financial barriers
Talking about business plans: according to some women in the panel, the financial side is not always the strongest part of a woman’s starting company.
Mariel van Kempen (WO=MEN): 'The concept of the product, the useful network and the overall instinctive feeling for the new business are sometimes much stronger than the financial side. Investing in financial competence and knowledge gives the new business so much more ability.'
Panel member Joanne Klein Wolterink (Essential Travel) approved of that: 'Yente supported me in that specific stage of my business, which was very helpful. My enterprise is now rather successful! Women shouldn’t be discouraged if their first request for financing gets rejected; just try again!'

Gender inequality
Sometimes though, it seems hard to find out where to go for the right information and support, not only for small entrepreneurs in general, but especially when women from other countries and their legal positions are involved. As examples cases are mentioned with gender injustice about I.D.’s and ownership documents. Sabine Blokhuis (ministry of foreign affairs): 'Circumstances are changing. Our ministry is actually becoming more and more aware of the specific topics connected to female entrepreneurs. We have a growing attention for complications that are related with gender and a recent change in company culture hopefully makes way for even a more overall gender mainstreaming inside the ministry.'

Women hold the key
Bert Koenders, in November 2009 still minister of Development Cooperation, mentioned gender equality and the empowerment of women, the third Millennium Development Goal, as a priority A fund to channel 70 million euros into MDG3 activities was set up. Koenders also connected women to Corporate Social Responsibility and quoted Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai as she said that women hold the key to the future of the climate.
Zairah Khan (WO=MEN): 'All the lobbying seems to work! It is a good thing that, worldwide, many women are acknowledged for there example setting. Now we need to keep moving ahead: All men and all women should be more conscious about running their business. Let’s stay critical about C.S.R., with an eye for People-Planet-Profit.' A new credo was successfully introduced at the end of the discussion panel: Let’s move from 'Yes we can' to 'Yes we care!'

Exchange and new connections
In the afternoon there was room for fast-track networking sessions, a speed dating methodology developed by Top Women in Business (South Africa). I shared tables with, for example, women from Peru, Ghana, Turkey and the Netherlands. Their enterprises, experiences and goals were even more worldwide spread, reaching Asia, Africa, Russia and Latin America. A lot of exchange took place and many new connections were made at those tables. As if it wasn’t clear to all participants already: networking really works!

Take your small ideas seriously
Keynote speaker Senay Özdemir, owner of Medusa publishing and author of various publications, as well as the owner of an impressive C.V. in contributions to diversity and  emancipation, ended the program with a vivid illustration of the diversity of powerful women and inspiring quotes of their successful attitudes towards running a business.
One of the many quoted tips and tricks that she offered to her audience, undoubtedly still sounds through in many of our heads: 'Take your small ideas seriously, so that they can become big and successful!'  

Women are change agents
Altogether, it was an interesting and inspiring seminar with more than 80 women (and a few men) on the Lisboa, a nice ship with several floors and decks, a good service coffee bar and very tasty hot lunch included. Even the evaluation that offered immediate feedback, as well as the cheerful chairwoman, contributed to the content and the atmosphere.
Yente and WO=MEN did a smooth job organizing this day and in making us even more aware of all issues that matter so much. Women worldwide do, and should play an important role in the changing world economy. They are an important key to employment, education and healthy societies. After this day, working together on worldwide female entrepreneurship and the balance in People, Planet and Profit has become just a little bit stronger again.  Yes, we do care!  

— A report of Anne-Marie van Gijtenbeek.