Women Entrepreneurs: Attention!

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Adela Rogers

Howard Gold writes: After much anticipation, the Nasdaq Composite Index has closed above the 5,000 mark for the first time since March 2000, and it’s very near its Internet bubble all-time closing high of 5048.62..

This NASNAQ has many fewer companies than traded in 2000, their average market capitalization is almost twice as high, and their median age is 25 years, vs. 15 at the bubble peak.

Some stalwarts from 2000 are shadows of their former selves. Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco for instance.

But the old guard has been more than replaced by a new wave of technology and biotechnology powers. Apple Amazon Priceline nd Starbucks added more than $1 trillion of market capitalization since 2000, with Apple alone contributing an astonishing three-quarters of that gain.

Companies that weren’t even public when the dot.com bubble burst — Google , Facebook, Netflix and Tesla Motors have created $635 billion in value for Nasdaq investors.

And biotechnology stalwarts Amgen, Biogen Idec Celgene and Gilead Sciences have tacked on $315 billion in stock market value since March 2000. Altogether, that’s $2 trillion in additional market value created by only 12 companies. Biotech, in fact, has been an even bigger winner than technology itself.

Finally — after much anticipation, the Nasdaq Composite Index has closed above the 5,000 mark for the first time since March 2000, and it’s very near its Internet bubble all-time closing high of 5048.62.

Of course, that’s still way short of its inflation-adjusted peak, which would require an additional gain of more than 2,000 points, as Lance Roberts of STA Wealth Management wrote recently. But it is innovation that is driving the market, and this is good news. Particularly for women entrepreneurs.

Women’s History Month: An Engineer Speaks

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Adela Rogers

Allison Lantero writes: Pam Fletcher is the executive chief engineer for electric vehicles at General Motors, including Chevrolet’s plug-in electric car: the Volt. She spoke with Energy.gov about what inspired her to pursue a career in engineering and what she likes to do when she’s not working on cars.

What inspired you to work in vehicle engineering? My dad had multiple motorsports hobbies. Over time working with him and then going to the racetrack, just that adrenaline and excitement of the track on the weekends was something I really, really started to love.

So going into engineering, I wanted to keep perpetuating the fun and excitement that we’d had at home. I never changed my major or guessed at what my major was going to be; I had a pretty clear line of sight

How did you get to where you are in your career path? At the time I went to GMI (now Kettering University), you had corporate sponsors. So you have a type of co-op experience, and my sponsor was McLaren, which had racing programs they were managing, as well as niche performance production cars.

Electronic controls were coming into play on power-train transmissions, and I really liked that, but I knew that the real intellectual property in that space was owned by the automakers. So that’s when I went to work for GM.

Why did you decide to start working on advanced vehicles? In the beginning it was the technology to be honest. I like being on the forefront of what’s new.

What is the most rewarding aspect of working on advanced vehicles? No question: it’s surprising, delighting, and exceeding the expectations of our owners

What is your favorite feature of plug-in electric vehicles? It’s the fun to drive part! You step on the accelerator and it’s instant go and when it accelerates it’s smooth, it’s quiet. I have two little nephews and when I go to see them they always say, “And you’re bringing the cool car, right?

What is a “day in the life” of GM’s executive chief engineer for electrified vehicles like? I go anywhere from the proving grounds — where you’re actually driving and testing vehicles — to the design studio — where we’re trying to make them look beautiful — down to our assembly plant — where you can actually see the cars built. So it’s really pretty cool.

What is the best part about working in a STEM field? Careers in science and math can be so rewarding, because everything in life has science behind it. Even the cosmetics industry.

What advice do you have for young women interested in your field? Number one, have confidence in your abilities. I think many women underestimate what they’re capable of. And then, don’t be afraid to ask questions and dig in the details so you can get a full understanding of whatever the problem is you’re trying to solve. And once you get that fundamental understanding, then you can start building a solution. Don’t be afraid to ask the clarifying questions, and just go for it!

Cautionary Tale for Entrepreneurs

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Adela Rogers

Sarah Fenwick in Cyprus writes of her efforts to get an EU businss grant.

I’m a Cypriot citizen and EU citizen and decided to look for other types of opportunities to improve my career. Never one to give up easily, I heard about some EU grants offering five million euros in financial resources to women entrepreneurs, and since my goal was always to own a business doing what I love, I scraped together 1000 euros to pay a consultant to do the paperwork and submit my business plan to the ministry of commerce.

I had originally budgeted for the full 100,000 euros allowed, which the government would fund by 50% with a grant, but somehow, due to a complicated procedure I didn’t understand fully, the budget submitted ended up being under 20,000 in total. My consultant told me it was because I would be working from a home office, and despite my explanations that online marketing and journalism are done from wherever there is an Internet connection, this flexible services approach was not a business model that would be understood by the ministry and I would just have to accept their decision.

Then, I waited. And waited. And waited, getting on with my productive work with CyprusNewsReport.com and working as a marketing consultant and jazz singer. Since the grant hadn’t come through yet, I could not see the reason to commit financial resources like getting a bank loan – which the consultant had suggested to do on the basis of the prospect of receiving the grant.

After many months, I contacted the ministry directly to ask what the status of my application was, and after many more months, received an official response that was quite unclear to me. The letter was in Greek and said that I’d received enough points to be accepted in the grant scheme but since there was not enough money for all the successful applicants, other candidates were put ahead of me based on this internal points system. EU Business Grants in Greece

Does Greece Need to Boost Trade?

Posted on March 3, 2015 by Adela Rogers

Rbecca Harding writes: The past for Greece has been as a strong trading economy and that is where its future lies. Greece has a service economy dominating trade (which includes tourism) and that has shrunk by approximately 50% from the 2008 peak. It is expected to bottom out at less than 40% of peak in 2017 and 2018 before it starts a slow climb. The key to a better future is to turn service sector exports around sooner and then get the growth moving faster than now projected.

No Jobs for Our Children?

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Andi Howe

Youth unemployment has been at the forefront of political and academic debate since the unfolding of the Great Recession in 2008, exploited to a greater or lesser extent by the contenders of most elections that have taken place across Europe since then. Edited by Juan Dolado of the European University Institute, this eBook takes into account the relevance of policy lessons from recent experience to provide a clear analysis of the factors that affect the impact labour-market policies have on youth unemployment. The contributors present a case-by-case analysis for a range of countries across Europe, spread both geographically and also by the divergent approaches taken. It covers countries with dual vocational training systems; dual labour markets; those where the ratio between youth and adult unemployment is notably high or low; and an overview of the recently launched Youth Guarantee programme. No Jobs for Young People

Good News: Successful Women in Tech

Posted on February 25, 2015 by Adela Rogers

Craig Newmark writes about six women who are doing well by doing good in the technolocy field. Here are the first three. To be continued.

1. Jessica Greenwalt, CoFounder & Lead Designer of CrowdMed
While in high school, she started a freelance design company which grew into an international design and web development firm, then Founded Pixelkeet, the world’s only “parakeet run” graphic design & web development firm.

More recently, Jessica CoFounded CrowdMed, whose approach and health care innovation helps people to overcome obstacles and silos that exist within the medical establishment – empowering patients and assisting doctors who simply cannot know everything about every medical condition. CrowdMed helps diagnose medical issues faster and more accurately – not only improving outcomes, but saving lives.

2. & 3. Alice Brooks and Bettina Chen, Founders of Roominate
Alice grew up playing in her dad’s robotics lab and made her first toy when she was only eight years old. When she asked her dad for a Barbie, he gave her a saw instead. So she made her own doll out of wood and nails! As a young girl, Bettina loved Lego and built cities filled with spaceships with her older brother. More recently, Bettina has conducted research on bionic contact lenses and worked as an electrical design engineer at Discera and KLA-Tencor.

Alice and Bettina are changing the way girls play and learn through Roominate, our innovative line of wired building toys for girls. Roominate is designed to get girls ages 6+ excited about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math). With Roominate, girls practice hands-on problem solving, spatial skill development, and get an intuitive introduction to circuits. Roominate blends creativity, engineering, design, and fun.

Would Venture Exchanges Help Women?

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Adela Rogers

U.S. regulators are considering taking steps to promote the creation of “venture exchanges” that aim to help smaller companies get listed and actively traded, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White said on Friday. “It is something we have been encouraging for some time. There have been venture exchanges approved by the SEC before. Clearly what we are looking at is how do we improve … the liquidity for the securities of small companies,” she said.

Is this a way to help start-ups?

Critics say current listing standards are often too costly and rigorous for small companies.

For those that do list, their stock is often less liquid.

Although Congress passed a law in 2012 designed to help small companies raise capital and go public by easing certain burdens, many say the measures fall short and that more must be done.

Venture exchanges typically have not fared well in the United States, though there has been some success in Canada.

Canada-based TMX Group runs a venture exchange that counts 80 U.S. firms among its 2,200 listings, its chief executive, Lou Eccleston, said. He sees the potential to launch a similar venture in the United States, but added that he has no immediate plans to do so.

White did not elaborate on what next steps the SEC may take concerning venture exchanges.

SEC Democratic Commissioner Luis Aguilar told reporters on Friday that he recognizes the important role that venture exchanges can play, but said the SEC should first carefully analyze why prior efforts to launch them had failed.

Does the SEC need a boost from Congress to be effective.?

For instance, under the federal unlisted trading privilege rules, stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq are allowed to be traded on rival platforms where they aren’t listed.

But such a model won’t likely work for a small company listed on a venture exchange.

Women Focus on Growth and Its Meaning?

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Andi Howe

Philip Pilkigton throws out some new ideas: The basic idea runs as such: firms want to expand. In order to expand, they must invest. But in order to invest they must accumulate profits. Now, you will probably think “they can borrow money to invest to too”. This is true. But in the Post-Keynesian theory it is sometimes assumed that the leverage ratio of firms remains somewhat constant. We will come back to this in a moment. Let us now lay out the most basic form of the Post-Keynesian growth equation for the firm. It runs as such:

How should we read this intuitively? The most interesting component from our perspective is the convention that allows the firm to borrow, p. As we can see, when this term increases in numerical value this leads to a higher denominator. This means that a higher rate of growth, g, will be able to take place for a lower rate of profit, r.

The growth equation as laid out above remains a handy tool provided we recognise it for what it is. I remain highly skeptical of long-run modelling and of the usefulness of some of the comparative statics approaches that are deployed.

Should we redefine growth and its centrality in our economic thoughts?

A Case Against Austerity in the EU

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Adela Rogers

Kemal Dervis writes: Over the last five years, the eurozone has, without explicit popular consent, maintained a strict policy focus on fiscal austerity and structural reforms – despite serious social repercussions, not only in the Mediterranean periphery and Ireland, but even in a “core” European Union country like France. Unless eurozone leaders rethink their approach, the radical Syriza party’s success in Greece’s recent general election could turn out to be just one more step toward a future of social fragmentation and political instability in Europe. Or it could mark the beginning of a realistic and beneficial re-orientation of Europe’s economic strategy.

Of course, fiscal sustainability is vital to prevent a disruptive debt refinancing and inspire confidence among investors and consumers. But there is no denying that it is much easier to support fiscal austerity when one is wealthy enough not to rely on public services or be at serious risk of becoming mired in long-term unemployment.

For the millions of workers – and especially young people – with no job prospects, fiscal sustainability simply cannot be the only priority. Austerity-induced suffering is particularly extreme in Greece. Severe pension cuts are preventing the elderly from living out their lives with dignity. A large burden has been placed on those who actually pay their taxes, while many – often the wealthiest, who long ago stashed their money abroad – continue to evade their obligations. Health care has lapsed, with many cancer patients losing access to life-saving treatment. Suicides are on the rise.

Yet Greece’s creditors have continued to ignore these developments. This is clearly not sustainable – a point that former Director of the International Monetary Fund’s Europe Department Reza Moghadam recognized when he recently called for writing off half of Greece’s debt, provided an agreement can be reached on credible growth-enhancing structural reforms.

Social sustainability is essential for long-term economic success. Regardless of what today’s corporate profit reports and stock indices may show, a country cannot achieve inclusive, sustainable success – in economic or human terms – if these fundamental social issues are not adequately addressed. Of course, fiscal caution cannot be abandoned; after all, if governments or the private sector were to spend borrowed or newly minted money freely, the result would simply be more crises, which would hurt the poor most. But social sustainability must be an integral part of a country’s economic program, not an afterthought.

The persistent tendency to pay lip service to social sustainability, while implementing economic programs focused on unrelenting austerity, is a leading cause of political instability in Europe. Though reform programs aimed at building viable macroeconomic frameworks remain essential, they must include strong provisions for countercyclical policies to offset the “paradox of thrift” (the tendency to save more during a recession, undermining economic growth). When aggregate demand falls short of aggregate supply, governments must increase public spending.

The European Commission and the IMF have admitted their errors – not only the inaccurate macroeconomic forecasts on which the Greek program was based, but also the decision not to account for social sustainability – and have acknowledged that the program has not produced the expected results. Yet, for some reason, Greece’s creditors refuse to negotiate with the new government (which enjoys strong domestic support) to develop a new program that incorporates debt relief, a lower fiscal surplus, and structural reforms that support growth and promote social cohesion. This must not continue.
The last five years have underscored the challenge of achieving financial stability. But political and social stability have proved to be even more elusive. Policymakers must direct just as much effort and resources toward realizing social sustainability as they do toward getting the Basel III financial reforms right. Europe’s future prosperity – and its global role – depends on it.

Wny So Few Women Direct Film?

Posted on February 23, 2015 by Adela Rogers

The Academy for Motion Picture Arts and Sciences snubbed Selma which was nominated for Best Picture and Best Song, but failed to yield a Best Director nod for Ava DuVernay. Since the Academy switched up its rules in 2010—allowing for up to 10 Best Picture nominations, but sticking with just five directors—a handful of directors of nominated films have ended up in the rejection bin every year.

Could have been the first black woman nominated for best director in Oscar history, and just the fifth woman, following Lina Wertmüller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow. Instead, she’s been added to the list of female directors who have seen their films get nominated while they’ve been snubbed: Randa Haines, Penny Marshall, Barbra Streisand and Valerie Faris (who shared directing credit with Jonathan Dayton).

In two cases, female co-directors have been denied credit as their male partners snagged nominations, sparking controversy and speculation over the extent of their contributions . Co-director of Slum Dog Millionaire Loveleen Tandan—who started as a casting director but was promoted to a co-director when her role expanded during filming—was left out, while Danny Boyle went on to win. Tandan has expressed embarrassment at the suggestion that she should be honored alongside Boyle, saying, “It would be a grave injustice if the credit I have should have the effect of diminishing Danny Boyle’s magnificent achievement.”

Still, there is some ammunition to the argument that the Academy may be particularly biased against female directors. Every Academy voter can vote in the Best Picture category, but individual categories like Best Actor and Best Director are voted on by their peers. Academy members are 94 percent white and 77 percent male, and their median age is 62. But some branches are even less diverse than others: Women make up 19 percent of the academy’s screenwriting branch and 18 percent of its producers branch, but only 9 percent of its directors branch. Perhaps a body that’s 77 percent male is slightly more likely to recognize women-driven films than one that’s 91 percent so.

I suspect that the outrage over omissions like DuVernay’s doesn’t hinge on the idea that female directors are being ignored while their films are being celebrated. The central problem is that female directors and their work are so disadvantaged across the board in Hollywood, from mentorship to funding to awards. And each year that the Academy fails to nominate a woman—in 2010, Bigelow became the first, and so far last, female director to win—the frustration mounts.

W-T-W.org

Women and Finance

Category Archives: Entrepreneurs