With a Digital Presence, Small Businesses Can Grow Global

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Jersey Business is expanding its presence from local – mechanics, hairdressers and electricians – to an off-island customer base that enables them to thrive, globally.

A number of our [says Alexia McClure, head of operations, Jersey Business] successful stores have a digital presence, particularly on social media, which allows them to sell to the UK and further afield. These sales enable our favourite outlets to be financially sustainable and, as a result, we, their local customers, benefit from their ability to maintain a vibrant offering.

It is a fact:  Many of these businesses think internationally right from the start.

McClure goes on to say:

"I think the breadth of Jersey’s existing exporting success has only just come to my attention because it is only in the past 12 months that we have really started to develop our support for businesses selling internationally."

Why limit your ambition when the world is there at your feet?

For Jersey and NY business owners, feel free to register for an export seminar on 7/18 that helps you develop a digital presence.

Ambitious Women Are Unleashing Their Potential by Starting Businesses

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Foreign correspondent Tanzeel Akhtar talks to successful female entrepreneurs from Nigeria and South Africa to find out about their achievements and discover what motivates them.

Female entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa is rising rapidly, with a number of ambitious women defying the odds, going solo and unleashing their potential.

There are also a number of global initiatives supporting and propelling female-run businesses on the continent but the fact remains that there are still challenges women need to overcome.

For example:

In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 40% of the labour force is female, according to the Pew Research Centre.  However, 74% of women’s non-agricultural employment is informal, in contrast with 61% for men.

Read more about the wonderful stories of women who dare to dream.  Be inspired.

Free-of-Charge Cybersecurity Toolkit for Global Small Businesses

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When it comes to cybercrime the risks are great, especially for small businesses that are the lifeblood of the global economy.

The statistics, according to the World Economic Foum (WEF) show that 58% of cybercrime targets small businesses, with the global cost of cybercrime standing at $600 billion in 2018.

What many people don’t know, however, is that small businesses are often the easy way into larger enterprises. Attackers will, for example, gain access to the credentials of a small business in the supply chain of a large enterprise as a pathway into the larger company, and the breach will often go unnoticed until after the attack has been carried out.

Read more about how helping small businesses fight cybercrime benefits the global ecosystem.

Tip of the day:  The GCA Cybersecurity Toolkit for Small Business enables smaller firms to navigate the confusing array of advice free of charge, to help them shore up their cyber defenses and reduce their cyber risk.

Let's all work together to fight cybercrime on a global scale!

Today in Global Small Business: The Future of the Norwegian Startup Ecosystem

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• McDonald's menu to feature worldwide favorites.
• Quote of the week:  “I find the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson
• Chinese brands quicken pace to go global.
• Japanese drugmaker Takeda is strengthening its roots in the United States and enriching its global research heft, by unveiling a 165,000-square-foot facility in San Diego, California, in addition to its existing R&D center in Cambridge, Massachusetts and plant in Shonan, Japan.
• The future of the Norwegian startup ecosystem.
• When international expansion can go wrong.

Women Who Have Very Little Fear

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"A lot of people would say 'sexy' is about the body. But to me, 'sexy' is a woman with confidence. I admire women who have very little fear." – Allegra Versace

Global Startup Ecosystem Report

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Europe leads in the “number of top growing ecosystems across phases," says a recently released report Startup Genome’s 2019 Global Startup Ecosystem Report.

The Global Startup Ecosystem Report is “based on primary and secondary data from over 10,000 founders and more than one million companies across over 150 cities worldwide,” according to the authors, Startup Genome and the Global Entrepreneurship Network.

Amongst the top 10 global startup ecosystems, Paris and Berlin have the least amount of female founders.

Four key takeaways from the report:

1. Paris and Berlin to step up female entrepreneurship
2. Frankfurt’s Fintech focus
3. Blockchain in the Balkans
4. Keep your eye on Helsinki

Read more about the takeaways from the Global Startup Ecosystem Report.

Facebook's Push to Make Money Off WhatsApp: A Mobile Payment

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Facebook has been seeking ways to make money from the messaging service WhatsApp and has been testing payments via the app since last year in India, WhatsApp’s largest market with more than 200 million users.

Where will the rollout start?  Facebook intends to drive a global expansion of mobile payments on WhatsApp from London, accelerating its efforts to make money off the popular messaging service.  They are dispatching engineers from Britain to support its initiative.

Read more about how Facebook is plotting a global expansion of mobile payments on WhatsApp.

From Stage-Paralysis to Expressive Self

The Coca Cola Company Is Proof That Small Businesses Can Go Global

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For a business that was started as a concoction experiment and has survived different strategic transitions, one can say that The Coca Cola Company is a testament that small businesses can go global.

In 2018, The Coca Cola Company raked about 31.9b dollars in revenue. Recognized as a top ten private employer, providing a means of livelihood to more than 700,000 people. 

In your quest to expand, founders should not neglect virtues like persistence and patience because the journey is an adventure. Even The Coca Cola Company realized this.

Read more about how small businesses still go global.

Today in Global Small Business: Create a Winning Global Marketing Strategy

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• An international lesson from Airbnb.
• Quote of the week:  “Female talent in shipping is promoting diversity. I think it can also promote innovation and give this industry a more competitive advantage.” – Katerina Stathopoulou, WISTA EXCO Board Member.
• Embracing different approaches for global B2B payments will go a long way towards strengthening the supplier relationship and minimizing payment pain.
• Creating a functional world-class team.
• LUX Blox wins FedEx grant!
• Create a winning global marketing strategy.

Women and Weed

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

“Instead of taking five or six of the prescriptions, I decided to go a natural route and smoke marijuana.” – Melissa Etheridge, musician and cannabis business owner

Take Strategic Steps to Compete

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Aaron Kibbey, Managing Director, Huron Consulting says:

Organizations today face a significant, but not impossible challenge: to cut through a noisy landscape with a value proposition that addresses consumers’ ever-changing expectations. Brands that rely on legacy alone will get lost in the shuffle unless they’re backed by a differentiated experience and long-term vision. By transforming a company’s substance, not simply style, leaders can hone an enduring competitive edge.

He goes on to say:

"Organizations saddled with excess amounts of debt have less flexibility to fund new platforms or service initiatives, but they can still take strategic steps to compete:

• Seek out the right partner [and this can be beyond borders]. 
• Restructure debt to enable reinvestment."

Read the entire article on creating revenue streams when brand matters less.

This Dude's Intense: Comment by a Viewer on Jim Collins's Keynote Address Looking Ahead and Applying Peter Drucker's Timeless Principles

2019 Status of Foreign Trade and Investment Barriers to American Exports Around the World

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From the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR):

The National Trade Estimate (NTE) is the U.S. government’s major annual report on the barriers to trade, investment, and services that American exporters and other businesses and their workers encounter around the world. The report is required to be published each year by March 31 and is submitted to the President and Congress.  The USTR works closely with other government agencies and U.S. embassies to prepare the NTE.

The USTR is responsible for the preparation of this report.

Access:  2019 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers

Fact sheets:

• Digital trade
• Key developments on technical barriers to trade
• Removing barriers to U.S. exports worldwide
• The President's trade agenda and annual report

weggchat™: How to Expand Your Global Reach Online with John Yunker

©2019 Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global™.  All rights reserved.  Used with permission.

Learn from web globalization expert John Yunker at an upcoming weggchat™on how to expand your global reach online, Wednesday, May 1st, at 11:00 a.m. Central time.  Discover:

• How to get more customers to your website.
• Why global e-commerce is so challenging.
• What the latest trends are in web globalization.
• How to globalize a website on a shoestring.
• + more!

It's free to join the weggchat™.  You just need a Twitter account. Instructions on how to participate can be found here.

The complimentary educational program is brought to you by Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global™ and sponsored by:  Bank of America, Harris Bricken, FedEx, IBM, GlobalCare Clinical Trials and Greensfelder.

Today in Global Small Business: Lean on E-Commerce to Collect VAT?

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• The Chinese government moves to support SMEs during tumultuous trade wars.
• Quote of the week:  When it comes to "people moments," Beth Ford turns to others for counsel.  Early in her career she says, she learned to watch and learn form the behavior of "folks who are excellent at what they do.” – WSJ on Beth Ford, Chief executive, Land O'Lakes Inc.
• As Brexit looms large for SMEs, banks step in to offer help and support.
• Female business owners face a unique set of challenges in their entrepreneurial endeavors.
• FedEx sees international shipping that adopts blockchain standards as a single, standardized ledger. 
• Tax authorities worldwide lean on e-commerce sites to collect VAT.

Be Your Own Artist

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

"Be your own artist, and always be confident in what you're doing. If you're not going to be confident, you might as well not be doing it." – Aretha Franklin

How to Enable a Business to Thrive Globally

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Two leading female entrepreneurs weigh in on how to pay it forward everyday to enable a business to thrive globally – one with a focus on her employee relationships and the other with a focus on making an impact for people.

Read more:  Small Acts, Big Impact

96% of Americans Have Made At Least One Online Purchase in Their Lives

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Today, with the headway in digital trends, it has become easier for merchants to reach out to tech-savvy customers worldwide anytime, anywhere.

According to BigCommerce:

51% of Americans prefer to make a purchase online, and 96% of Americans have made at least one online purchase in their lives.

E-commerce sales are expected to cross a mark of USD 4.878 billion by 2021.

Learn more about some common changing e-commerce landscapes that will rule the e-commerce space beyond 2019.

A More Humane World: Crispr

©2019 Laurel J. Delaney.  All rights reserved.

For all the anxiety and ambiguity surrounding Crispr – focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious human diseases – there’s little doubt that it could revolutionize farming.

If and when the FDA decides to weigh in, says Hank Greely, a bioethicist and professor of law at Stanford, it will have to reckon with the unique risks of gene editing—that an edit might produce new allergens, for example, or spread from livestock to their wild cousins. His underlying fear, however, is “the democratizing nature of Crispr.” 

Learn more about Crispr and how gene editing aims to make our food supply kinder and more efficient. But it’s struggling to leave the barn.