Five global trend to improve a female entrepreneurs

Released by the Global Entrepreneurship Index, FEI has this year expanded in order to analyse the fortunes of female entrepreneurs from 77 counties – an increase from 30 in 2014. Assessing everything from ecosystems to the aspirations of individuals, the Index gives each country a ranking score from 0 to 100. This year the rankings are, once again, headed up by the United States, with Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Netherlands completing the top five.

The US ranked at 82.9 points, that’s eight ahead of second place Australia. Sweden, France and Germany all lost their spots in the top five, however managed to maintain strong and robust ecosystems for female entrepreneurs.

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Moving from Europe to Latin America, Chile was the top performer, reaching a ranking high of 15. However Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Panama all fell at least five places. The results are particularly disappointing for Colombia and Panama, who both appeared in the top five of a recent global women in business report.

In total, 47 of the 77 nations assessed scored below 50 points, a worrying statistic. However as the global trends below illustrate, there’s reasons to be optimistic about the future of women in business, as well as much to build on over the next 12 months.

Top 10 rankings

1. United States 82.9
2. Australia 74.8
3. United Kingdom 70.6
4. Denmark 69.7
5. Netherlands 69.3
6. France 68.8
7. Iceland 68.0
8. Sweden 66.7
9. Finland 66.4
10.  Norway 66.3

Five global trends

1. Improvements in technology transfer and business risk:Aggregating all countries, there has been an 18 per cent improvement in “tech transfer” which captures private sector R&D investments, presence of high-quality research institution, active collaboration in research between universities and industry, and intellectual property rights protection. Also, at the macro-level across all 77 countries, business risk has improved an average of 13 per cent in terms of better availability and reliability of corporate financial information and protection of creditors by law.

2. Female entrepreneurs’ innovativeness and participation in the technology sector has decreased: Innovativeness is measured by the percent of entrepreneurs who report that few businesses offer the same product, and is down 13 per cent among female businesses. More disturbingly, the percentage of female businesses that are in the technology sector has decreased 19 per cent.

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3. Increase in female business 'gazelles': Overall, there has been a seven per cent increase in the percent of female entrepreneurs who intend to grow their business by 50 per cent and employ 10 people within five years. 

4. Female entrepreneurs have higher levels of education: The percent of female entrepreneurs who are highly educated – those that have participated in some form of post-secondary education — has increased nine per cent. 

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5. Improvements are still needed: Despite the progress of these countries, 61 per cent of the countries score below 50 out of 100. Europe can improve opportunity recognition - that is, women’s ability to recognize good opportunities to start a business in the area in which they live

Latin American can improve their export focus and pursue customers who come from outside the country. Sub-Saharan Africa can improve women’s access to bank accounts and financial training programs. East Asia can improve women’s perceptions of their skills: that is, that women believe that they possess the required knowledge and skills to start a business.

Habits of charismatic people

Some people instantly make us feel important. Some people instantly make us feel special. Some people light up a room just by walking in.

We can't always define it, but some people have it: They're naturally charismatic.

Unfortunately, natural charisma quickly loses its impact. Familiarity breeds, well, familiarity.

But some people are remarkably charismatic: They build and maintain great relationships, consistently influence (in a good way) the people around them, consistently make people feel better about themselves--they're the kind of people everyone wants to be around...and wants to be.

Fortunately we can, because being remarkably charismatic isn't about our level of success or our presentation skills or how we dress or the image we project--it's about what we do.

Here are the 10 habits of remarkably charismatic people:

1. They listen way more than they talk.

Ask questions. Maintain eye contact. Smile. Frown. Nod. Respond--not so much verbally, but nonverbally.

That's all it takes to show the other person they're important.

Then when you do speak, don't offer advice unless you're asked. Listening shows you care a lot more than offering advice, because when you offer advice in most cases you make the conversation about you, not them.

Don't believe me? Who is "Here's what I would do..." about: you or the other person?

Only speak when you have something important to say--and always define important as what matters to the other person, not to you.

2. They don't practice selective hearing.

Some people--I guarantee you know people like this--are incapable of hearing anything said by the people they feel are somehow beneath them.

Sure, you speak to them, but that particular falling tree doesn't make a sound in the forest, because there's no one actually listening.

Remarkably charismatic people listen closely to everyone, and they make all of us, regardless of our position or social status or "level," feel like we have something in common with them.

Because we do: We're all people.

3. They put their stuff away.

Don't check your phone. Don't glance at your monitor. Don't focus on anything else, even for a moment.

You can never connect with others if you're busy connecting with your stuff, too.

Give the gift of your full attention. That's a gift few people give. That gift alone will make others want to be around you and remember you.

4. They give before they receive--and often they never receive.

Never think about what you can get. Focus on what you can provide. Giving is the only way to establish a real connection and relationship.

Focus, even in part and even for a moment, on what you can get out of the other person, and you show that the only person who really matters is you.

5. They don't act self-important…

The only people who are impressed by your stuffy, pretentious, self-important self are other stuffy, pretentious, self-important people.

The rest of us aren't impressed. We're irritated, put off, and uncomfortable.

And we hate when you walk in the room.

6. …Because they realize other people are more important.

You already know what you know. You know your opinions. You know your perspectives and points of view.

That stuff isn't important, because it's already yours. You can't learn anything from yourself.

But you don't know what other people know, and everyone, no matter who they are, knows things you don't know.

That makes them a lot more important than you--because they're people you can learn from.

7. They shine the spotlight on others.

No one receives enough praise. No one. Tell people what they did well.

Wait, you say you don't know what they did well?

Shame on you--it's your job to know. It's your job to find out ahead of time.

Not only will people appreciate your praise, they'll appreciate the fact you care enough to pay attention to what they're doing.

Then they'll feel a little more accomplished and a lot more important.

8. They choose their words.

The words you use impact the attitude of others.

For example, you don't have to go to a meeting; you get to go meet with other people. You don't have to create a presentation for a new client; you get to share cool stuff with other people. You don't haveto go to the gym; you get to work out and improve your health and fitness.

Quote on planning

20 Quotes:  The Importance of Planning

If you don’t think planning is important, you may want to reconsider. I have put together 20 great quotes about the importance of planning.

1. “A plan is a list of actions arranged in whatever sequence is thought likely to achieve an objective.” John Argenti
2. “A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door.”Confucius
3. “Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”Richard Cushing
4. “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” Charles Darwin
5. “There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.” Douglas H. Everett
6.  “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.” Peter Drucker
7. “It’s not the plan that’s important, it’s the planning.” Dr. Gramme Edwards
8.  “Few people have any next, they live from hand to mouth without a plan, and are always at the end of their line.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
9. “As for the future, your task is not to foresee it, but to enable it.”Antoine de Saint Exupery
10.  “To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream. Not only plan but also believe.” Anatole France
11. “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin
12. “A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.” H. Stanely Judd
13. “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” Alan Lakein, writer
14. “If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.” Abraham Lincoln
15. “It’s easy to come up with new ideas; the hard part is letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will soon be out of date.” Roger von Oech
16. “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” Geoge S. Patton
17. “If you are failing to plan, you are planning to fail.” Tariq Siddique
18. “Planning ahead is a measure of class. The rich and even the middle class plan for generations, but the poor can plan ahead only a few weeks or days.” Gloria Steinam,
19. “Planning is a process of choosing among those many options. If we do not choose to plan, then we choose to have others plan for us.”Richard I. Winwood
20. “Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.”Napoleon Hill

New Proof we are not as busy as we think

There are certain things that we all believe about our modern working lives, namely that we are overworked and sleep-deprived. We come home from long workdays to a mess of chores, and hence have no time for leisure. Ask anyone how life is going, and he’s likely to answer: "Busy."

But what if that’s not the whole story? New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that Americans on the whole are not that starved for time, and even those we think of as busiest tend to have a good amount of breathing space in their lives.

Every year, throughout the year, researchers from the BLS contact thousands of Americans and have them talk through the previous day. The resulting American Time Use Survey (ATUS) gives the most complete statistical picture of how people spend their time, without some of the biases inherent in other surveys. Since the BLS doesn’t ask about particular categories of time, people are less inclined to give socially desirable answers. Since the survey looks at the previous day (including both weekdays and weekends), people don’t have to guess what is a typical day and what is not.

MORE SLEEP & LESS WORK

The results paint a picture of modern life that’s quite at odds with the usual assumptions. According to the ATUS, the average American sleeps 8.8 hours per day. That’s 8.54 hours on weekdays and 9.4 hours on weekends and holidays. This survey does include older teens and senior citizens, who perhaps might have more hours available for sleep, but even looking at slightly busier demographics, the sleep totals are still pretty high. The average working mom with a kid under age six got 8.67 hours of sleep per day; the average working father of young kids got 8.27 hours.

We have enough time to sleep because we work less than we think. The average full-time work week comes out at just a bit shy of 42 hours.

The average working mom with a kid under age six got 8.67 hours of sleep per day; the average working father of young kids got 8.27 hours.

There are 168 hours in a week. If one works roughly 40 hours a week and sleeps 8 hours per day (56 per week), that leaves 72 hours for other things, so it’s no surprise that Americans find time for leisure. On an average day, 96% of Americans found some time for leisure activities such as watching TV. Indeed, we watch quite a bit of TV: 2.8 hours a day, which is just a bit under 20 hours per week. On average, we’re not too stressed about the housekeeping, it seems, or at least the male half of us. To quote the BLS: "On an average day, 20% of men did housework—such as cleaning or laundry—compared with 49% of women. Forty-three per cent of men did food preparation or cleanup, compared with 69% of women."

SEEING WHAT WE CHOOSE TO SEE

When I repeat these numbers to people, some proportion tell me that they cannot possibly be true. To be sure, no study is perfect, but I also think it’s possible that how we think we spend our time (which is what most surveys look at) and how we actually spend our time when forced to recollect it hour by hour (which the ATUS does) are entirely different. We may all be in the throes of confirmation bias. As we repeat the story that we are busy, busy, busy, we look for evidence to support that thesis.

Life is complex, and consequently it’s easy to find pieces of such evidence. I can recount a dire weekend afternoon whose logistics required me to get three of my four children to three different places at once. But I can also recount more relaxed moments, like sitting on my back porch sipping wine for an hour after the children went to bed. We can choose which stories to view as emblematic of life, and this new data from the BLS suggests that the more relaxed hours happen plenty, too. Look at the whole picture, and we’re not as busy as we often seem.

Everything you need to know about WhatsApp CEO

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Everything You Need to Know About WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum, Tech’s Latest Billionaire

Facebook has a habit of turning low-profile CEOs into overnight celebrities. First it was Kevin Systrom, the Instagram head who was instantly the talk of the tech world when Facebook offered $1 billion for his 13-employee startup in April 2012. Today it’s Jan Koum, who just sold his mobile messaging platform WhatsApp to Facebook for $19 billion in cash and stock. Koum had been a relatively low-key CEO, giving few media interviews as his messaging service quietly grew even faster than Facebook had. But now that he’s at the center of the largest acquisition ever for a venture-backed startup, he’ll no doubt become a figure in the public sphere. Here’s what you need to know about Jan Koum:

His Origin Story: According to a profile by Forbes, Koum, 38, was born and raised near Kiev, Ukraine during the Soviet era. He lived as an only child in a house that didn’t have hot water. He moved to Mountain View, California as a teenager with his mother, and lived off food stamps for a time. He taught himself computer programming and earned a job as an infrastructure engineer at Yahoo in the late 1990s. After working at Yahoo for several years he decided to launch a messaging app through which people could send text messages via the Internet instead of through cellular SMS texting. Brian Acton, a friend of Koum’s at Yahoo, rallied the first seed funding for the new company was named a co-founder.

His Worldview: Koum’s upbringing in Ukraine gave him an appreciation for tight friend groups rather than the sprawling social networks that Americans often develop. He also gained an aversion for advertising there, and has consistently railed against its use as the monetization engine of the Web. According to a Wired profile, he has a sign in his office from his co-founder that reads “No ads! No games! No gimmicks!” In a 2012 WhatsApp blog post, he wrote a manifesto against the use of ads online, saying, “We wanted to make something that wasn’t just another ad clearinghouse…Remember, when advertising is involved you the user are the product.” After the Facebook acquisition, he held strong on his stance, saying that there are no plans to introduce ads to WhatsApp.

His Relationship With Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook’s CEO has been eyeing WhatsApp for a long time and first began courting Koum early in 2012. The two had a series of discussions in the ensuing years, over dinners and walks and hikes. Zuckerberg officially popped the question on Feb. 9, telling Koum, “If we joined together, that would help us really connect the rest of the world.” Koum considered for a few days, then visited Zuckerberg’s home on Valentine’s Day to accept the deal. The two reportedly hashed out the terms of the buyout overchocolate-covered strawberries.

His Plans for WhatsApp: In a conference call with analysts, Koum wouldn’t disclose any planned features for WhatsApp. He only offered that the company hopes to make messaging faster and more stable this year. But he did emphasize that, for now, the company is focusing on growth instead of monetization. With Zuckerberg himself saying that advertising isn’t appropriate for messaging services, WhatsApp will likely continue is $0.99-per-year subscription fee as its main revenue source. But given massive amount of money Facebook just doled out, the app’s new parent company no doubt has greater long-term aspirations for it as a revenue generator.

His Net Worth: Forbes estimates that Koum owns about 45 percent of WhatsApp, which would net him $6.8 billion in the deal. That figure dwarfs the amount the founders of Twitter received during the company’s IPO in November.