Archive for August, 2008

Teaching Kids to Say YES

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

Part of the plan for our two-week trip to South Africa was to get out into the community to see the real country. The premise was that it is hard to advise women entrepreneurs when you don’t have an understanding of the environment in which they operate. I completely agree. When I found out that one of our field trips was to a high school, I wasn’t sure I got the connection. After being there, I get it now.

The school we visited was Matthew Goniwe Memorial High School in Khayelitsha, a large township in Cape Town. If you want to see it for yourself, go to YouTube as there are many touching videos there.

The first thing I learned is that the word “township” refers to an informal settlement comprising houses made out of cardboard scraps and whatever building materials can be found. Being there made coming home to my 5 bedroom, 2-story house feel…well…gluttonous.

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Empowerment through T-Bags

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008

Walking through the craft market in Cape Town, South Africa, some beautiful and unusual products caught my attention. There were coasters, note cards, crosses, and wood trays, all sporting hand-decorated USED TEA BAGS. I was even more intrigued when I read the sticker on the back of the products. The company was created to provide way for the people of the Mandela Park township outside of Cape Town in Hout Bay to get themselves out of the extreme poverty they currently live in. Talk about empowerment.T-Bag Designs

We were so moved by the quality of the products and what the company, T-Bag Designs, was doing that we wanted to visit their facility and see for ourselves.

Once there, we spoke at length with the woman who started it all: Jill Heyes. She moved to Hout Bay from the UK in 1996. A teacher, she was devastated to see the extreme poverty and worked with the local women to teach them crafts they could sell. The first couple of attempts failed, but they kept on looking for unique ideas that would be purchased for their beauty, not as a charity. In 2000, the tea bag concept was created and T-Bag Designs took off.

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Lessons for all of us – ask “why not?”

Sunday, August 17th, 2008

Gold MedalNo doubt if you’ve read any news medium in the past few days, the story of Michael Phelps‘ incredible gold medal run at the Olympics in Beijing. In the U.S. especially, his 8 gold medals is already becoming a legend. In reading about his extreme focus and physical determination I’ve come to the conclusion that I do not have what it takes to reach that level of athleticism. It is just not in me. So what, then, can we mere mortals learn from his – and every other Olympic athlete’s – experiences and successes?

Linda Robertson in an article for the Miami Herald provides great insight:

“Five years ago, when Phelps first plotted his record, it seemed like a presumptuous, wacky fantasy. He was like a baseball player declaring he would break Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. He was like an astronaut declaring he would step foot on Mars.

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Wrap up of our regional training

Friday, August 15th, 2008


PRESS RELEASE

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The Viral-ness of WooHoo

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

I am in Pretoria, South Africa on the beginning of my three-week tour across the country working with women entrepreneurs. In my first presentation on market positioning and elevator pitches, as I said a ‘thank you’ to the INCREDIBLE Femtrepreneurs, they gave me a big WooHoo! 12 success-driven high-tech women entrepreneurs waving their arms in the air in unison. It was awesome. Interestingly enough, there were around 60 other women in the audience who had never seen a WooHoo before. You could tell by the looks on their faces that they didn’t get it but were intrigued.

As the day progressed, the WooHoo’s started to spread. Women who had not been a part of the original WooHoo movement were now putting their hands in the air in celebrations big and small. By the end of the day, the CEO of The Innovation Hub, a male, incorporated a WooHoo into his closing address. Amazing as that seems, it didn’t stop there.

That evening we had dinner with the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry for South Africa, Elizabeth Thabethe, and by the end of the night, we had HER doing a WooHoo. Even unprovoked.

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