Women In Business With Heart

Women do have a distinctive touch that is different from men. Touch with feelings from the heart. World Bank assessing companies owned by women grew faster than the business carried on a man.

One of the benefits of women is a tendency to manage money well and not corruption, said Minister of Trade Mari Elka Pangestu.

"At the age of 13-18 years is an important period in the life of women to get their rights to education and access to businesses, thus women will be able to reduce poverty," he said answering a Stanford University student who came to Jakarta.

Ministry of Women Empowerment record of 46 million micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is known approximately 60 percent of managers are women.

With a considerable amount of it, the role of women entrepreneurs become large enough for economic survival, because it can create jobs, provide goods and services cheaply and overcome poverty.

His business, women entrepreneurs manage their business with care so that the potential to be greater in the credit repayment discipline.

In fact, the repayment rates of women's businesses reach nearly 100 percent. Therefore, women are the potential and the assets in nation-building.

Doing business with the heart
Femina Group chairman, Svida Alisjahbana, said that most women entrepreneurs start their businesses with the heart, based on pleasure or personal interest, so be great.

"Many women entrepreneurs are in business not to enrich themselves. In the course of their business, both naturally and with full awareness, sharing, devoting attention to social, as well as humanity, and the environment," he said.

Based on his observations, has been generally women entrepreneurs to start business from pleasure or personal interests as a hobby that evolved into a professional business.

He saw a young woman with an age range 25 to 40 years have a lot of creativity to start a business in accordance with their interests. That is, according to a motor Svida Indonesian women's empowerment.

According to him, the business or businesses that can develop, usually beginning with a passion, who lived with his heart. Femina noticed a lot of women entrepreneurs in the travel business, naturally, and with full awareness to share, and energy devoted to the extraordinary, to do things in a social, humanitarian and environment.

Two successful women entrepreneurs who do business with the heart is Suzy Hutomo (CEO of The Body Shop Indonesia) and Susi Pudjiastuti (owners of seafood processing plants and airlines Susi Air).

Suzy Hutomo with her husband pioneered the business of taking a license under cosmetic products and body care home eco-friendly English. Now he built his own business empire by opening 52 outlets in cosmetics, five department stores, six restaurants and a health food supermarket semiwaralaba.

Not only proficient in business, Suzy had committed businessmen to the environment. As a Board Member of Greenpeace Southeast Asia and Indonesia Climate Project Advisor, Suzy eloquently explained about global climate change and its implications. Green lifestyle is also applied in the office, so the company became the winner of Jakarta Green Office 2009.

Femina two businessmen were invited to share stories with other women entrepreneurs in business discussions with themes of inspiration Doing Business With a Heart held in commemoration of Mother's Day.

Around 200 women entrepreneurs whose businesses Femina observed in the last three years to gather, share information, experiences and build networks, and listen to inspirational efforts of the two successful businessmen.

Growing rapidly
In a report the world's leading consulting firm, Ernst & Young, in the United States, the number of women who start their own business recorded more than twice as men.

Based on research from the Center for Women `s Business, women in the U.S. has created more than 23 million jobs, or about 16 percent of all employment in the country.

In Indonesia, the community of women entrepreneurs has increased rapidly, at least it was also recorded in Femina magazine readers data from Nielsen. In 2009 was about 15 percent of the community of readers is an entrepreneurial magazine. The figure includes 80 percent of readers who become women worked.

However, rapid development is not without obstacles. So far the women entrepreneurs in Indonesia often have difficulties in access to capital, mostly related to their status as wives.

Chairman of the Indonesian Business Women Association (IWAPI) Rina Fahmi Idris, shortly after the election in November and said that when women are large-scale entrepreneurs, especially micro, small, and medium (SMEs) applying for a loan for working capital or fixed investment should be through the knowledge of her husband.

"That's the difficulty. Therefore, the future we will make a collective loan to help overcome the problem of capital access," he said.

Most members IWAPI that about 40,000 people are SMEs managers and only two per cent which is a big business. To further encourage the growth of women entrepreneurs in Indonesia, Rice said IWAPI will hold Upper Level High School (high school) to build the entrepreneurial spirit early on.

"The mindset of school children should be changed. No more, they think after school looking for work which, but think what started the business," he said.

Therefore, IWAPI, he said, will teach the students create a business plan and inspire them to produce a marketable goods.

Currently, Indonesia has a population of more than 230 million people with the percentage of women of 49.9 percent. It shows great potential to involve women in the economic field.(Eko Listyorini)