The Women Entrepreneurs Blog @ Simon

Welcome to My Life – An Entrepreneur's Journey in Barbados

By Marita Greenidge

When I first came to Simon, I had a plan, a plan to start a business magazine in Barbados. I was so dedicated to this plan that I wrote an entire blue print for the business and entered it into the Mark Ain Business Model Competition. Thereafter I suffered a horrible defeat as my plan was not one of the top 5  selected as a finalist in the competition (bummer!). 

However, as Simon continued to expand my skills set so too did my horizon expand. A business magazine in Barbados no longer seemed like the means by which I would fulfill my passion for assisting with economic and social development on a large scale. 

I then had the bright idea of starting an e-commerce business that would import products from artisans in developing countries who needed distribution channels to penetrate international markets. This was already being done by several companies but I thought my strategic marketing and analytical skills, along with my creativity, could give me an edge on redefining this market. 

Then I met Rebecca and Glenn, owners of Kingdom Ventures Inc. (KVI), a young Rochesterian fair trade company that was already doing something quite similar. Quickly recognizing the benefits that could ensue from working together, I offered my services as a marketing consultant. They became my first client while I was still completing my MBA at Simon. 

Now here I am in Barbados and I’ve landed my second, and very major, client – Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust (CBET). CBET developed something called the CBET shepherding model™ as a tool for stimulating economic growth in small state economies. The model has 3 main components – the entrepreneur with an idea that has global potential, the shepherd (business mentor) that guides the entrepreneur from business idea to business success and funding (via investors) because all entrepreneurs need cash to develop. 

The idea here is that economic development only occurs if there is one successful enterprise after another. After funding is in place there must be a mechanism by which to reduce the risk of the entrepreneur failing because of poor business skills. In this way the model takes mentoring to a whole new level by requiring entrepreneurs to have business mentors (shepherds) as a necessary condition of receiving seed and venture capital funding. Shepherds are appointed by the manager of the fund and must have considerable business experience. As shepherds are not all-knowing they work with a team of business advisors in various areas to usher the entrepreneur to success.  

I provide marketing services to CBET, CBET (Barbados) (which is a partnership between CBET and Barbados' private and public sectors) and to the entrepreneurs who receive investment.  As you can imagine, this is huge for someone like me who has a strong interest in social and economic development. 

So after all my hopping around from idea to idea, I want to steal a line from one of Simple Plan’s songs and say “Welcome to my Life”. I’m going to take you on a fun and interesting journey as I embark on running my own consulting firm (which was only officially registered a few weeks ago) and share my experiences as a management consultant with some very fascinating clients. Stay tuned! 

Make Security a Top Priority

One of the classes I took at the Simon School was called Marketing on the Internet. Studying online marketing was extremely interesting, and it helped me improve my job performance for my work with Glenn and Rebecca. Marketing KVI products well means that everyone wins - the company grows and our suppliers are able to earn a decent living; our success is their success.

A key thing I learned in class is that security is one of the most important factors customers consider when choosing to purchase from a retailer. This includes both payment security and personal information security.

To corroborate this, I found an article from Investment Weekly News, which stated that according to a consumer study of online shopping fears, 83% of consumers say that the most motivating factor to shop online is assurance that payment and personal information is secure. (Study conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research and co-sponsored by eBillMe.)

The next most important factor is that the purchase will meet quality expectations at the lowest possible cost. 

This translates into a few important points for entrepreneurs building an e-commerce site:

• Make sure that on your website you place the logo of a third party site that verifies that the information customers provide on your site is secure. Consumers should be able to click on this logo and be directed to a website profile that confirms your site's security. Strategically place the logo on your homepage and include it in the check-out process to remind customers that your site is safe.

• Have a link to your privacy policy that clearly outlines how you treat personal information collected on your site.

• Reduce the risk for your customers by displaying the quality of the items sold on your site. Show pictures; allow for magnified views so they can take a closer look; be very descriptive about product attributes. Consumers can't feel/hold a product online. Try to offer them an experience that comes as close as possible to that of a store.

Put yourself in the shoes of the customer and think about how do you would choose what websites to shop at. You wouldn't supply personal and credit card information on a random site without being assured of its safety.

Remember, you are not Amazon (at least not yet:-)); you are still in the process of building a name and reputation in the e-commerce space. You must prove to be a trustworthy source before expecting customers to purchase from your website. Eventually, that trust will turn into loyalty.

A Newly Minted MBA Learns about Viral Marketing

by Marita Greenidge

That’s it! I’ve done it! I am officially Marita L. Greenidge, MBA. It feels wonderful to type those words. I graduated on June 14 2009 and am now ready to begin a new chapter in my life. (Look out world!)

Prior to completing school, I worked feverishly with Glenn and Rebecca to redevelop the KVI (Kingdom Ventures Inc.) website that is currently up and running. I did tons of research on optimal ways to market our business online. After all, an amazing website that sells amazing products has little value if no one knows about it.

In my research, I came across an e-book by David Meerman Scott - The New Rules of Viral Marketing. Well, to say I came across it would be factually incorrect; it was sent to me by a thoughtful friend. (how's that for viral marketing??!!) I read this book in one afternoon because it was interesting as well as a quick and easy read. Trust me, quick and easy is very important; as a millennial I have the attention span of a gnat.

In David's book he explains how you can use word-of-mouse marketing to market your products for free. He gives tips on how to create visually pleasing e-books and how to market them.

He also explains how to use YouTube and interactive tools. The book provides examples of companies who have successfully implemented these strategies. Read the book, and tell me if these ideas work for you. You can download the book here.

And for those of you who want to find out a bit more about social media, I found some interesting links while perusing the pages of MarketingProfs – What is Social Media, Getting Started with Social Media and Social Media Starter Kit.

Best of luck in marketing your business online!

It’s not about you!

There I sat writing an email inviting first year students at Simon to apply for leadership positions at WATS, the school magazine. Several members of my current team (including myself) do have to leave Simon so it’s probably a pretty good idea to find someone to fill our shoes.

I was going to be very thorough – I described the positions, the responsibilities, listed deadlines and application requirements. Of course I was done right? Nope! I sent the outline to my trusted Deputy Editor, Diana, for her insight and she asked one very simple, but important, question – why should I join WATS?? In all the fancy sections of my application notice I forgot to tell people why joining the WATS team would be beneficial to them, especially since running WATS is a lot of work and you don’t get paid.

There is a very useful point here – it’s not about you.

When you are trying to find the best people to fill your positions you need to clearly state what’s in the deal for them. The benefits of your company may be clearly obvious to you, but that may not be so to the average potential applicant. Outlaying these benefits is essential for entrepreneurs who may not have the funds to pay great employees huge sums, or a creative website that highlights the benefits of the company.

Remember people act to maximize their utility, which, beyond me dropping in some economic jargon, simply means that individuals do what they perceive as being in their best interest. They want to know that if they join you, it’s going to help them in some way – be it offering the opportunity to do that job they always wanted to do, add relevant content to their resume or gain experience in an area they think might be useful for their career. There are many things, but you need to let them know.

As you are trying to grab great people in this tumultuous economy, which apparently economists think will start to recover in September (we’ll see how true that one is), don’t forget to give them a reason to join the company.

And remember you don’t want just anyone who needs a job; you want someone that will do the job well. To get those kinds of people you need great incentives. Take a look at a short post I found on Seth Godin’s blog which states that it’s harder to hire great people in a tough economy. Wait -- hasn’t everyone else been telling you it’s easy because there are so many people floating around without jobs? Think quality, instead of quantity. Read the post and tell me what you think.

Tip of the Week - Hire Great People

During this economy, if there is one positive aspect, it is the abundance of very qualified people willing to work in a new start up or emerging enterprise. The key to building a successful organization is to hire great people. While that may sound trite, or obvious, it isn't.

I often wonder why companies don't spend more time hiring the right people. The right people are positive thinkers, upbeat, ethical and are of good character with an internal stake in the success of the organization. Our Dean at the Simon School, Mark Zupan recently distributed a copy the best seller: Good to Great by Jim Collins. I thought the book was wonderful because as a business owner, what I knew intuitively about hiring great people was reinforced by the many examples Collins offers in his text. A good portion of the book is devoted to leadership and the people equation.

Successful business owners recognize that their most important asset is not people but the right people. Take advantage of the downturn in the economy and if you are hiring use this opportunity to find the very best talent you can in the marketplace. They are out there; abundant, loyal and willing to work hard just for the opportunity. The recession could be viewed as an opportunity - an opportunity to engage the right people.

Tip of the Week – How to Get Creative

One of the things you always hear is “be creative with your marketing campaigns”.

You have to do something that captures the attention of your target market. But how can you be creative all the time? I got a really great tip yesterday at our second Mark Ain Workshop. The topic for this workshop was Competitive Analysis, Customer Identification and the 4P’s (of marketing). Presenter Kara Painting, who is Managing Partner and Creative Director at local Marketing, PR and Advertising firm, Dixon Schwabl, told us to think about all the possible connections we could, regarding the focus of our campaign.

I’ve finally found what I want to do

When I first came to the Simon Graduate School I was dead set on starting a business magazine in Barbados. If you take a look at my bio, you’ll see it’s still written there - “Marita came to the Simon School after deciding to pursue her dream of starting her own publishing company.”

Like the good entrepreneur full of passion, I did everything to get me closer to that goal – I sought the advice of those in the industry, took classes that I thought would be useful in the future, wrote a business plan and entered a business plan competition.

These were all great steps for that particular goal but the more I tried to build this dream the more I realized I wanted…..well….more.

Web tip of the Week - Surround yourself with Excellence

During your first year at Simon you are placed in academically and culturally balanced teams which are rearranged at the beginning of each quarter (Simon uses the quarter, rather than semester system).

The design teaches you to work in a diverse setting but best of all it allows various perspectives to come to the fore so that problems are tackled in a unique manner. These ready-made teams are formed only for core courses; when it comes to electives you must choose your own team.

I’ve found that the best teams are those where persons are better than I am in a complementary area. For example...

Networking – it may be all it’s cracked up to be

When I got to Simon, one of the first things they told us at orientation was that networking was essential. To be honest, I didn’t get this whole networking thing and it seemed pretty fake. I felt like someone was telling me go pretend to be interested in this person because he or she could get my foot in the door at a particular company or introduce me to someone who could help me fulfill my career goals. For someone who may possibly be as see-through as shrink wrap when it comes to faking, pretending to be interested in someone just for the sake of making a connection was definitely a bad idea.

However after spending a whole year at Simon I’ve come to have a different perspective of networking.

Mark Ain Business Plan Competition: Simon Graduate School of Business

It’s the beginning of a new and exciting quarter at Simon! In a few days we will host the first of three entrepreneurship workshops designed to offer participants tips on writing successful business plans.

The workshops are part of our annual Mark Ain Business Model Competition and Workshop Series which will culminate in the Mark Ain Business model competition held during the Spring quarter of this academic year. At that time, five finalist teams will compete for a chance to win $10,000. For a look at last year’s finals you can visit the following link. (scroll to the bottom of the page)

This competition and workshop series is particularly exciting for me because I remember sitting down during the summer of last year to plan the event. In fact, prior to planning, I remember meeting with the staff at the Center for Entrepreneurship and reviewing the past year’s competition and workshops to determine where we could improve. This year we have significantly stepped up our game by broadening the number of presenters and developing a more efficient method for judging and delivering feedback.