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President's Corner
JULY 07, 2008
During the last week in June, members of our marketing team attended the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council’s (WBENC) annual conference in Atlanta, Women in Business 2008: The Power of Progress. Their trip was a success! The conference provided wonderful opportunities to network with corporations through MatchMaker Meetings and reception events, as well as the chance to connect with other women business enterprises (WBEs). The conference also included workshops to learn about utilizing a company’s WBE certification and a chance to exhibit our products and services for over 2,500 attendees and 400 exhibitors.
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Chin-Ning Chu
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In between networking and building relationships with companies across the nation, key note speakers presented their ideas on doing business today. |
Hill Harper
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Arisa Batista Cunningham
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To name a few, some of their most memorable speakers at the event were Chin-Ning Chu, an author, strategist, and powerful speaker about winning in the marketplace; Hill Harper, an accomplished young man who is a successful actor, author, and wonderful motivational speaker and role model; Arisa Batista Cunningham, Vice President of Global Diversity for the Medical Devices & Diagnostics Group Worldwide, Johnson & Johnson; and Nancy Kramer, an expert in the field of technology marketing and the founder and CEO of Resource Interactive. |
Nancy Kramer
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Our employees returned not only with motivation, ideas, and advice to grow in our business and the corporate environment, but developed a variety of new business contacts. While connecting with companies who could use our products, they also developed relationships with businesses that could be future suppliers for us! Now we can grow as well in our efforts to develop supplier diversity.
As stated by Linda Denny, President and CEO of WBENC, “Our women’s business enterprises are innovative leaders in our economy; and it is here at our conference and business fair that they can access ideas and contacts to carry them forward. This is an exciting time for our women’s business enterprises as they are enhancing the corporate value chain as never before.” Ending with Linda’s words, we would like to thank WBENC for providing this great opportunity for Church Hill Classics and other WBE’s like us.
JUNE 16, 2008
Going “green” is the way to go…and it’s a blossoming trend here at Church Hill Classics. With the environment’s fast decline today, it’s essential that everyone does their part to help towards global sustainability. Even the smallest attempts to recycle or conserve resources create a big impact, when you multiply those efforts times many people. Here are some of the practices that we have developed into our everyday work environment, to ensure we are continually doing our part:
- Regularly recycling office paper, cardboard, cans, etc.
Our new SMARTbox, which is 100% curbside recyclable
Developed a line of green frames made with 100% recycled wood
Donating materials to organizations such as Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang and art departments of local schools
A member of EPA’s WasteWise program
What does going green mean to you? Share some of your suggestions on how to further maintain our world because it is something we can all benefit from.
MARCH 14, 2008
I recently spotted some fascinating statistics about woman-owned businesses, published by the Center for Women's Business Research.
This CWDC's mission is to identify the trends, characteristics, achievements, and challenges of U.S. woman-owned businesses. According to their recent research, majority-owned female enterprises:
- Number 10.4 million in the U.S.
- Employ more than 12.8 million people.
- Generate $1.9 trillion in annual sales.
- Have grown at around two times the rate of all firms (42% vs. 24%) over the past 20 years!
- Are more likely to have hands-on owners, especially relative to technology decisions.
- Use technology to more integrate between home and work.
- Focus on relationship-building and seek consensus in areas ranging from banking to succession planning.
- Are more likely to take risk, seek outside expertise, and to join business organizations than their male counterparts.
Personally, I identify very closely with these study results. As a female business owner for the past 17 years, I’ve traveled the road from my basement to managing a fast-growing company with a national client base. Our work force is over 80% female, and relationship-building has been so important to our growth. For our employees, we began by offering women flexible work schedules and today we continue to retain women because of this. My personal pet-project is technology. I’m always seeking new ways to improve our ability to work remotely, to streamline our work flow, or to replace a sea of paper with interactive systems.
I’ve never really thought of it as a "more-female" trait, but from this research I see in myself and in my female peers that our nurturing instincts probably play a bigger role in business than we realize. My experience and these study results suggest women business owners are using their instincts to collaborate, care, and multi-task as a competitive advantage. Collectively, our instincts and willingness to take risks are paying off in positive results for women business owners.
The Center for Women’s Business Research has a great listing of advocacy, networking, and resource organizations for women. Their site also offers research and reference materials to assist a wide spectrum of woman and minority business owners, including excellent resources for accelerating growth for women of color in business. Several additional detailed study results, including pieces on exit strategies for women and women’s use of financial services, are available for purchase online.
Many thanks to Nancy Loderick for her thoughtful input on this blog entry.
JUNE 15, 2007
TO GENERATE GROWTHAfter returning from the 2007 National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) conference in Atlanta, I realize more than ever the value of this peer community and resource group that is available to female business owners. I have been in business for over 16 years, and until recently, I have not leveraged the benefits available through NAWBO or similar organizations that support women in business.
If I had it all to do again, or if I was advising a new female business owner, I would recommend getting involved with NAWBO (www.nawbo.org). In addition to providing a great networking group of women who like to support other women business-owners, this organization provides excellent educational resources, access to corporations that both support and advocate doing business with female and minority owned companies, and links to the organizations that provide valuable “woman-owned” certification processes and credentials.
Each year, NAWBO sponsors a national conference featuring top-notch keynote speakers (Gloria Steinem, among others in 2007), valuable break-out seminars, round table sessions with procurement experts from top corporations, a resource-filled trade show, and social events to encourage networking and idea sharing. NAWBO also has local chapters that provide support and educational sessions on a regional basis. For some helpful post-session materials and handouts, visit NAWBO.
2007-2008 NAWBO President Lisa Hickey and NAWBO Executive Director Erin Fuller
with conference keynote speaker Gloria Steinem.
In the past, I have woven my way through the web of becoming certified as a female owned business in my home state of Connecticut, and the path has been both frustrating and fruitless. Through my conversations with other business owners at the NAWBO conference and at the Enterprising Women conference recently in Orlando (sponsored by Enterprising Women Magazine at www.enterprisingwomen.com), I saw example-after-example of how others have broken into corporate markets that are very difficult to penetrate as a small business owner. I learned the ropes of where and how to obtain certification that will help our company bid for business that large corporations “set-aside” to support female and minority owned businesses.
I hope that by sharing my experiences, I can help others move their businesses ahead and leverage the valuable resources I have discovered. The primary certification recognized by the majority of corporate and government agencies is available through www.wbenc.org. The application process is extensive, so plan time to pull together the supporting documentation, and be prepared for a review and on-site interview process that takes a full 90 days to complete. Once certified though, you will earn a credential that will open many new doors, giving you access to government procurement opportunities and an entrée at Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies alike. Your success will only be as great as your ability to make those contacts and follow through to showcase the benefits of your product or service, but it’s a great head start—and one that I wish I had discovered many years ago.
For a great resource book on the process and benefits of certification, as well as sales tips to break into corporate procurement circles, Susan Phillips Bari’s book entitled Breaking Through is an excellent reference. This book may be purchased through www.wbenc.org or at Amazon.com.
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