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Why Women Don’t Start Businesses and How wegg® Can Help

In 2019, wegg® wants to help all women entrepreneurs, from the seasoned to the aspiring, achieve their business ambitions. We can help you go global, and assist with the obstacles that usually prevent women from reaching their full business potential.

What are some of the barriers women face when trying to start an entrepreneurial career, that wegg® aims to alleviate? Glad you asked.

In a recent report from The Economic Times, a group of women in India were polled on the reasons that they are not able to start their own independent businesses. The Times states,

“Of the homemakers who aspire to start their own business or pursue a hobby to make money, 69 per cent said the greatest barrier was lack of sufficient funds, 63 per cent said home responsibilities took up most of their time, 39 per cent said it was lack of guidance and 36 per cent reported that it was a lack in confidence.”

When the women were asked about what kinds of solutions would aid them in overcoming the aforementioned obstacles, the results were,

“62 per cent said it was financial/funding support, while 51 per cent said they needed self-confidence or counseling the most.”

Enter wegg®. We provide FREE monthly webinars that cover a varying array of topics. At these events, “wegginars®,” we have an entrepreneurial expert present on a business subject of their choice, combined with a participant Q&A. Anyone around the world can participate in these accessible events, and all at no charge. Get a head start on your resolutions this year, and let wegg® help you take your business to new heights.

Registration is open and free for Laurel Delaney’s 1/9 talk. She will present her annual global trade trends report 2019. Join us. Register here.

Teach a Woman to Fish & Go Global, and You’ll Feed Her & Her Business for a Lifetime

Published December 10, 2018 Announcement , Barriers to trade , Business Development , Country specific , Culture , Economic growth , Education , emerging markets , Enlighten Me! , Environmental , Equality , Gender challenges , Global news , global women entrepreneurs , How-to , Innovation , Inspiration , International business , Social Entrepreneurship , Sustainability practices , Trends , Working abroad , World entrepreneurship , World Travel Leave a Comment
Tags: economic development, Economic growth, equality of sexes, gender equality, gender equality worldwide, global economy, global growth, global trends, go global, Rwanda, women entrepreneurs, women's issues, women's rights

Everyone knows the classic adage, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”

But wegg® knows, “Give a woman a fish, and you feed her for a day. Teach a woman to fish and go global, and you feed her and her business for a lifetime.” This idea is the essence of wegg®’s mission: “to educate, inspire and nurture women business owners and entrepreneurs worldwide on how to go global, so they can run healthier businesses and create a new future for themselves, their families and their community.”

Our goal as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization is to teach the women entrepreneurs of the world how to take their businesses global, and we are always thrilled to hear about the triumphs of women entrepreneurs around the world. Recently, we read a New York Times article covering the reform of Rwanda’s fishing industry, from an exclusively male world, to a community of women entrepreneurs. Author Shannon Sims describes the change,

“The intense physical work and danger that comes with fishing on Lake Kivu, along with reinforcement from traditional gender roles, kept women from fishing for generations, tending to backyard farms instead. But in post-genocide Rwanda, that seems to be changing. Today, women form an essential part of the national market for Lake Kivu fish. Besides fishing on the lake at night, women also gather along the shores in the early morning to buy the fish the fisherwomen deliver. They then haul those fish home to their small villages, or sell the fish to cooperatives.”

This newfound emphasis of women on the business side of Rwanda’s fish economy has inspired the development of Projet Pêche, a fishing cooperative made up of 87 women, in Kibuye, a town along the banks of Lake Kivu. This collective has had a supremely positive impact on the lives of Rwandan women. Just listen to one woman, Bonifrida Mukabideri’s, account,

“A lot of women have used the cooperatives to fight poverty. Here in Rwanda we now have the idea that women and men can do every job…Now a woman can say: ‘I can build a house by myself. I can look after my family properly. And even if my husband dies, we can live a better life.’”

wegg® would love to help global women entrepreneurs like Mukabideri feed themselves, their families, and their communities for a lifetime…by fostering an expanding global business that thrives for generations. For more information on the resources wegg® has to offer women entrepreneurs, check out our education page.

President and CEO Julie Smolyansky on “Following Your Gut”

Published September 17, 2018 Business Development , Culture , Economic growth , Education , Enlighten Me! , Equality , Event , global branding , Global trade , global women entrepreneurs , Innovation , Inspiration , International business , Leadership , Sales & Distribution , wegg supporter , wegg workshop , wegginar , Working abroad , World entrepreneurship Leave a Comment
Tags: business mentoring, ceo, follow your gut, go global, lifeway, lifeway kefir, risk taking, WEGG, wegg workshop, wegginar, women business owners, women entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs grow global, women in business

This past Wednesday September 12th, President and CEO of Lifeway Kefir, Julie Smolyansky lead a wegg® workshop about the importance of following your gut on business and personal endeavors. Her inspiring talk covered the journey of Lifeway beginning in her parent’s basement, in the mid-eighties, when they began making Kefir, a food inspired by their home country, the former Soviet Union. It is now a $120 million publicly-traded company, thanks to Julie. She grew Lifeway to the size it is now, without a business degree, and became CEO at age 27, when her father suddenly passed away. Smolyansky shared the story of how one of her father’s friends reacted when he died and she was made CEO…

“[He said] ‘forget it, the company is done. Sell all of your stock tomorrow. There’s no way a 27 year old girl could run a company.’ This is done. Lifeway is over…I go into the office Monday morning…and everyone had sold their stock….It was devastating…[I] picked my head up and moved forward. Then, we had 70 people, today we have 320. We’ve grown our business from 12 million to 120 million…We continued to execute on the strategy we believed in, and continued to follow our gut, and worked really really hard….That man who said ‘she’s never gonna do it,’…I literally think about him every day. I say ‘thank you’, ‘thank you so much for underestimating me, for pissing me off, and making me angry…You gave me the fuel to move forward.”

Smolyansky went on to describe how being a young CEO became a strength for her. She followed her gut and made Lifeway one of the first businesses ever to have an active social media presence. She explained, “We were ahead of the game…Vogue called us ‘avant garde’ for being on social media.”

She also shared her beliefs on the importance of female entrepreneurship,

“If women were employed at the same rates as men, we know the global GDP would rise exponentially…That I think is really important. A rising tide raises all ships, and when women create jobs, an entire community is more safe and stable….Women are the key to saving the world…Entrepreneurship…can heal the world.”

Other inspiring takeaways from Smolyansky’s talk…

Keep moving ahead no matter what your challenges are in life.
Make a big impact: it only takes one person one step at a time to change the world.
Follow your gut (we should all listen to our intuition on important matters in life).

Thank you to Julie, and her team, Justine and Maria, for making our on-the-ground wegg® workshop a success. And thank you to Bank of America, Moji Eagan and Aneta Mazur, for hosting us.

If you were not able to make this wegg® workshop, we are having a wegginar® on Wednesday, October 3rd with Katie Kollhoff, CEO, NUMIX. She’ll present on “Small Startup, Big Impact.” Thanks to our sponsors, IBM, UPS, Bank of America and GlobalCare Clinical Trials, the program is no charge but you must register to attend, here.

How to Prepare For a Global Profession

Published August 5, 2012 Education , Working abroad Leave a Comment
Tags: global profession, global professional, Laurel Delaney, Small Business Influencer Awards 2012

How will globalization affect your future? In many ways and it can start as early as college.

You probably hear about lots of overseas companies recruiting professionals from the United States, who bring great education and a global perspective to companies around the world. Colleges and universities are helping prepare students in many ways, from requiring that students take courses on global issues to encouraging travel and exploration abroad.

Read the entire article here.

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Unrelated, if you haven’t already, there are just three hours left to vote for me on the Small Business Influencer Awards 2012. Go here to cast your vote and thank you for your support!

Posted by: Laurel Delaney

10 Myths On Why Women Don’t Go Abroad

Published March 13, 2011 Gender challenges , Research , Working abroad , World Travel Leave a Comment
Tags: Laurel Delaney, Stacie Nevadomski Berdan, The Huffington Post, why women don't go abroad, working abroad

Stacie Nevadomski Berdan dispells ten myths on why women don’t go abroad.

First, here’s a snippet of an interesting fact:

According to a recent study by ANZ recruitment agency Hydrogen Group, women who want to further their career should work overseas. All of the 2,637 professional women surveyed in Global Professionals on the Move 2011 said they would recommend working abroad.

Read the entire article:

Women Move Up by Moving Overseas

Posted by: Laurel Delaney

Advice For Women Working Abroad

Published June 4, 2010 International business , Working abroad Leave a Comment
Tags: Going Global blog, Laurel Delaney, women working abroad, working abroad

Do women have extra barriers to contend with when considering going abroad? The Going Global blog, a leading provider of country specific career and employment resources for individuals interested in working outside of their home country, addresses that question and much more with:

Do Women Have Extra Considerations When Choosing to Work Abroad?

What has your experience been? We welcome hearing from you.

Related useful resource:

• Captivating advice for women working abroad – USATODAY

Posted by: Laurel Delaney

Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global

Archive for the 'Working abroad' Category

Why Women Don’t Start Businesses and How wegg® Can Help