HI there
Press Release: Teenagers have Bebo, singles have SecondLife, friends have FaceBook…. and now women in business have
entrepreneurette.com (www.e-ette.com) – info attached and below
Thanks
Warm Regards
Fiona
FIONA POWELL
chief(ette)
entrepreneurette.com (www.e-ette.com)
Where women in business meet
Teenagers have Bebo, singles have SecondLife, friends have FaceBook…. and now women in business have
entrepreneurette.com (www.e-ette.com)
Entrepreneurette, an online community for women in business, is the creation of Fiona Powell, the founder of Her
Business Group, past publishers of the Her Business magazine, and which included nationwide Her Business networks,
conferences and awards for women in business.
“The business world has changed dramatically since 1995 when I published the first issue of Her Business magazine,” says
Powell. “Back then the internet didn’t really exist and email wasn’t even around.”
“Women are looking for different solutions to help them grow their businesses and connect with other women in ways that
are more time efficient and these days they’re aware, like most business people, we also need to be friendlier to our
environment.”
“Women entrepreneurs can still feel isolated running their own businesses but they don’t have a lot of time or energy to
attend networking events, meetings and conferences and seminars all over the country – but an online solution lets them
be ‘there’ interacting without leaving work and their home and family.”
These factors lead Powell to create entrepreneurette.com, an online global community for women in business. “We’ve taken
everything we used to do; the magazine, the networking groups, the business program, the meetings and events and
conferences and put them all online. Now our members don’t have to leave their home or office or family to be connected,
networking, learning and inspired. There’s no down time in productivity, or travel and parking costs and no trees are
being killed!”
Powell’s site uses the latest web 2.0 technology including message boards, forums, blogs and video conferencing to
connect women. “Online communities are highly interactive and user driven, unlike websites of the past which were
passive and one-sided,” says Powell. Tech trends point to an ongoing popularity in online communities, networking and
blogging. “Online networking, meetings and events are a widely accepted element of business interaction overseas, and
while New Zealanders are more tentative online, (we tend to ‘lurk’ on forums) we’re learning,” says Powell.
Although the entrepreneurette.com website has been ‘live’ for almost a year, Powell is holding the official launch on
February 12th for New Zealand women before she concentrates on building membership in other countries.
Other random, interesting information about online communities, online advertising, virtual worlds, blogging, women in
business, Fiona Powell and the Stats about online communities:
- MySpace: started 2003, has 217,000,000 members at Feb 2008
- FaceBook: popular in Canada, UK, USA and New Zealand, started 2004; has 62,000,000 members at Feb 2008, 350 plus staff
at end of last year, with $100 million USD revenue in 2006
- Bebo: popular in UK, Ireland, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, for people over 13 yrs, has 40,000,000 members at
Feb 08 and started 2005
Professional ( business) online communities:
- LinkedIn – 17,000,000 members at Feb 08
Social networking has overtaken online shopping, banking and downloading music as the most popular online activity. Only
surfing the net and emailing is more popular. – uSwitch, Britain survey, 2007, Reuters
With over 57 million web pages on member community sites being viewed daily, there is clear growth in the trend for
using the internet as a tool for social interaction and sharing experiences. Alex Burmaster, European Internet Analyst
at Nielsen//Netratings comments “The future of online to the young is about what the internet is best at – communicating
and interacting.” Feb 2006
Online advertising in New Zealand:
NZ Online advertising grows 23% to $41 million in Q3:. Overall growth of 22.9% from Q2, 2007 takes the total spending
for interactive/online advertising to $98.6 million for the year to date. The total for the year to the end of September
2007, suggests spending for the whole year is likely to exceed $120 million according to IABNZ. – Nov 07 (Lee Williams,
IAB Chairman, and Head of ACP Digital, says the growth in online advertising is staggering and exciting.)
Virtual Worlds:
- Second Life – 12 million residents at Dec 07; with hundreds of brands and companies represented from Adidas, to Ben
and Jerry’s, BMW, IBM, Vodafone and Xerox – and lots more…
Blogging:
As at Dec 2007 blog search engine Technorati was tracking 112 million blogs.
Women in business stats:
In the States, The National Women’s Business Council cites: Majority-owned, privately-held women-owned firms account for
30 percent of all businesses in the country. Equally-owned firms represent another 18 percent of all firms. Thus, nearly
half (48%) of all privately-held U.S. firms are at least 50 percent owned by women.
The number of majority-owned, privately-held women-owned businesses grew by 23 percent during 1997-2004 compared to nine
percent of all U.S. businesses.
In New Zealand the GEM (Global Entrepreneur Monitor) report released in 2005 indicated 14% of entrepreneurs were female,
an increase from the 2003 rate of 9.9 percent.
In NSW, Australia 29% of small business operators were women in 2004 while national figures from the GEM report cite
there was an increase of female business owners from 5.6% to 9.6% in 2003.
About Fiona Powell:
Fiona Powell is the founder of Her Business magazine and was the publisher and editor until the sale of Her Business
Group in November 2003. She started the magazine in 1995 from scratch by herself and under her leadership the magazine
won many awards, was featured on TV and in magazines, and Fiona was awarded Business Editor of the Year in 2001.
Fiona developed the annual Her Business Businesswomen of the Year Awards, she took over and rebranded 15 women’s
networking groups to Her Business Networks and masterminded and organized the successful ‘National Women in Business
Week’ including the Her Business Conferences held in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.
Her latest venture, Entrepreneur-ette, is an innovative online community, magazine, e-learning, meeting, event and
networking place for women in business. She also blogs about women in business, web 2.0 and has a number of anonymous
blogs.
About entrepreneurette launch event:
LAUNCH DETAILS
Entrepreneurette “official” launch – join us for a fabulous evening of inspiration and networking – you’re welcome to
bring a friend (or two!)
When: Tuesday, 12th February 2008
Where: St Columbia Centre, 40 Vermont St, Ponsonby, Auckland (free parking: behind the Centre)
Time: Networking and refreshments from 5.30pm with presentations from 6.15 - 8pm
Entry: $20 includes nibbles / refreshments (cash/cheque payments at the door or by direct credit to A/c entrepreneurette
ASB 12-3100-0224005-00)
RSVP: Register with numbers attending by Friday 8th February to: fiona@e-ette.com
Speakers:
Jenene Freer: “the nzgirl story”
Jenene is managing director, publisher and founder of nzgirl Ltd, one of New Zealand’s most popular websites.
Be inspired to believe in yourself and focus on your passion!
Fiona Powell; “entrepreneurette”
Fiona, founder of Her Business, is chief-ette of entrepreneurette, a global online community for women in business.
Discover what it’s all about and how you can be a part of this exciting community for women in business.
Supported by: Xero (www.xero.co.nz) – Accounting Liberated!
(Online event: 19th February, 7.30pm)
For more information go to www.e-ette.com
ends