Strong Brands Recover from Recession Faster

Analysis released today by Millward Brown Optimor reveals that the BrandZ™ Portfolio, created from the world's Top 100 most valuable brands, is recovering faster than the S&P 500 as a whole. The BrandZ Portfolio is now worth 28 percent more than the S&P 500, and it has returned to profit ahead of the market.

The BrandZ Top 100 is based on the world's largest brand equity study. It is the only brand ranking that combines financial data with research among 1.5 million consumer and B2B customers in 30 countries.

Joanna Seddon, CEO Millward Brown Optimor said: “The recession has provided fresh evidence of the tremendous value of brand assets. Over the past year, even when things were at their worst, the BrandZ Portfolio outperformed the market. Our new analysis reveals that as the stock market recovers, the share prices of companies who have invested in developing strong brands are recovering fastest. Companies that continue to invest in their brands in a recession emerge with a sustainable competitive advantage.”

The Brand Called YOU (And what to name kittens)

This month I have done three presentations on The Brand Called YOU. The first one was in Iceland to the women entrepreneur association and the second one to NAWBO in Sedona, AZ. Yesterday I did a free teleseminar on the topic to about 70 women who signed on through www.connected-women.com.
I want to highlight two things that have happened the last two days:
1) I just adopted two rescue kittens. One is a tabby (orange) and is five weeks old. The other one is all white and is three weeks old. They are ADORABLE. My daughter is really the big cat lover and she no longer lives at home but her roommate does this rescue work and these kittens were irresistible!
So we came up with the names Tiger and Snowflake. And then I realized that these were the most typical, unimaginative names we could have come up with. I told my daughter--we have to have better names. She loves Winnie the Pooh and wanted to change Tiger to Tigger and she wanted Snowflake to become Anna Bella. I said OK to Tigger and no to Anna Bella. A few hours later, I said OK to Anna Bella because I can call her Bell.
I really didn't think this through at the time that these cat names might affect my personal branding. I hope that part of my branding is that I am a creative person and I guess that kicked in, even subconsciously, as there was NO creativity in those original names. It's only after the fact (last night in bed) that I realized this WAS a branding issue for me!
(Plus--if you don't think Anna Bella and Tigger are very creative--I can just say, "My daughter named the kittens." That solves the branding issue for me, too!)
2) As I said, I was just in Iceland. I LOVE Icelandic fashion designers so someone sent me a link to where the founder of Steinunn, Steinunn Sigurd, one of my favorite Icelandic designers, has a Small Business Makeover by Fortune.
http://money.cnn.com/video/smallbusiness/2009/08/26/sbiz_mak_steinunn.smb/ and
http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/1/smallbusiness/icelandic_fashion_business_makeover.fsb/index.htm
In the interview, Steinunn said she one of the things she learned through this process is to “Profile myself more so people can get to know who I am.”
Does this sound like “The Brand Called YOU”? I love having my messages reinforced in other places.
So--how do you profile yourself to carry out your brand?

International Women Business Associations

I arrived in Iceland yesterday and joined a meeting of the International committee for the FKA (the Icelandic women business association). I am past Chair of the International Forum of National Association of Women Business Owners (U.S.)
The points of discussion at the committee meeting were:
1) what do we get out of our alliances and what organizations should we be looking at?
2) can we do a survey of members and learn more about them--including whether they do business internationally
3) we need to re-do our organization website, particularly to add more about members and about international
4) we have members that import, etc., but say they don't do business internationally!
I kept feeeling like I was at a NAWBO meeting. ALL of these topics are discussed--and discussed and discussed-- by NAWBO as well. It is just another example of how similar we are throughout the world!

AN ARGUMENT NOT TO CHANGE YOUR NAME WHEN MARRIED

AN ARGUMENT NOT TO CHANGE YOUR NAME WHEN MARRIED
About 3 weeks ago Eunice Shriver died, the founder of Special Olympics. Many articles on her after her death stated she was perhaps the Kennedy sibling that left the biggest legacy. Yet when Senator Ted Kennedy just passed away, she was barely mentioned--but his two brothers were. Is this because:
1) Her last name was no longer Kennedy?
2) She wasn't a male?
3) She was never a Senator?

My vote would go to the first two choices!

Afghanistan and Rwanda Women Business Owners

I had the pleasure of working with the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women in Dallas Texas last week in their Peace Through Business program. Peace through Business® trains women entrepreneurs in war torn countries in basic business practices, then goes a step further by providing mentorship with American women business owners. These courageous women spend 3 weeks in class learning business basics through a entrepreneurial University, then take that information and transfers it into ‘real’ life through mentorship.

After training in their respective countries, 14 women from Afghanistan and 15 women from Rwanda attended a 10-day training at Northwood University in Cedar Hill, TX. Tomorrow they leave Texas to go to places throughout the country to be matched with a woman business owner who has a similar business and will mentor them.

Terry Neese is the President and Founder of IEEW. She is a former national president of NAWBO and the co-founder of WIPP.

I did a day of marketing training with the women, including information on branding, media, networking and message development. I want to introduce you to the women below. (The descriptions are very short because I also used these descriptions in my Twitter account. You can follow me @maryschnack. I also have an account @upfromthedust).

Sarah Mukandutiye from Rwanda has dairy and chicken farm and three greenhouses with tomatoes. Sells 1,000 eggs and 600 liters of milk a day

Khalida Dunya of Afghanistan gives internally displaced people work making soccer and volleyballs--by hand! Wants to start exporting.

Frozan Raufi of Afghanistan owns Family Med Clinic. Needs EKG & digital blood press machines. & grants to treat patients at only $2/person.

Mariam Yousufi started Mariama Education and Culture Assoc in Kabul, a hand craft biz and has trained almost 400 women in tailoring and literacy.

Shakila Rozbeh of Afghanistan provides raw materials to women handcrafters and employs 35 crafters.

Cathy Bitwayiki is an organic farmer in Rwanda. Her goals are to learn how to process and export locally grown fruits and vegetables and to get her company’s products into the organic market.

Immy Kamarade’s company in Kigale, Rwanda distributes petroleum products, cement and coffee. She joined neighbor famers together to sell bigger coffee orders & make a market for all.

Farghana Alimy, 20, only female shop owner in 1 of biggest markets. Also serves as the manager of the Trader Woman’s Association in Kabul.

Francoise Uwamwezi carries on her family business called African Wood Enterprises. The company creates furniture for the home, the office, floor parquets, partitions and ceilings.

“Women in Afghanistan are confined for different reasons…the main reason is lack of ownership. Men have it and women don’t,” said Razia Arefi. “I want to open my own shop and achieve this goal of [ownership] and beat these difficulties.”

Marlene Nyirubutama opened first ice cream shop in Rwanda. She imports ice creams from South Africa and Kenya and now wants to make it herself. She’s in Orange County now studying with a mentor.

Farzana Ebrahimi founded the Kandahar Health and Development Organization (KHDO) in Kandahar, Afghanistan. KDHO specializes in training women in the fields of sewing, embroidering, and knitting. KDHO specializes in training women in the fields of sewing, embroidering, and knitting in hopes that it will help propel them into a successful career down the road.

Annette Karenzi owns a holistic, “ladies only” fitness center in Kigale. When her business grows, she plans to set up a complete executive spa.

Roqia Sajjadi, who spent the majority of her childhood and adolescence in Iran during the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan, has started her own financial consulting services company and is excelling to new heights with it.

Keza Kamwenub is President of IATA Travel Agencies in Kigali, Rwanda. Anyone want to see the gorillas? We edited her brochure!

Deborah Kagwisagye owns and operates Generations Impact, where she trains orphans and former sex workers to be job creators through handcrafting jewelry and wall hangings. She gave me the purse made by orphans—see the photos on my Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/mary.schnack.

Andeisha Farid spent her childhood living in refugee camps in countries neighboring Afghanistan. It was living through this experience that inspired her to get involved with helping children, starting a new non profit, the Afghan Child Education and Care Organization (AFCECO). AFCECO runs 7 orphanages in Afghanistan, 2 orphanages in Pakistan, a girl’s school, and several vocational training centers around the country.

Asma Ataie a 23 year old businesswoman from Kabul, started a small business development firm, which provides BDS (Business Development Services) to growing and budding businesses.

Joan Twagira, with the help of the Oxford University Press, owns Kigali Bookstore-Book Distributors. Her core business includes searching for authors to write books for academic needs and schools, as well as selling English books to the general public.

Lydie Hakizimana owns a book store that sells both new and used books in Kigale. Her overall goal is to develop libraries in schools and hospitals where children would have access to books for free.

Other Rwanda women businessowners. Jane Natukunda owns a tea business. Josephine Mbabzi and Joy Kansangire own promotions businesses. Saudah Nalule owns a beauty shop.

Go to ieew.org for more information, and view photos at www.flickr.com/ieew and at my Facebook account, www.facebook.com/mary.schnack.

Health Care Reform

Write your Congressional Representatives (both House and Senate) today expressing your support of key principles critical to healthcare reform. A 2009 member poll by Women Impacting Public policy showed that 72% of women business owners believe health care reform is needed in order to be successful.

Whether you are a business owner or not, this is an important subject that will affect all of us.

Key components of healthcare reform that WIPP vigorously supports:

·Creation of a private nationwide insurance purchasing pool for small businesses;
·Tax credits for small businesses that offer healthcare to their employees;
·Rating reform and the elimination of health status for benefits rating;
·A simplified enrollment process; and
·An individual requirement for health insurance coverage.

WIPP vigorously opposes:
·An employer mandate that includes small businesses; and
·The taxation of employee health benefits.

What do you think?

Ways to Keep Cool

Thanks to Sarah McLean, Sedona Meditation Training Co. [sarah@sedonameditation.com]-Aromatherapy: use pure rose or sandalwood oils - you can even spritz these cooling oils on your skin
-Eat lots of sweet, juicy fruits - avoid sour fruit
-Avoid spicy or salty food
-Cook with cooling herbs like cilantro and fennel
-Avoid excessive heat or sun - stay out of the sun from 10 am until it cools down.
-Hang out with people who bring out your positive side
-Avoid disagreeable people, or violent television
-Give yourself an oil massage with cooling coconut oil
-Go to bed by 10 - 10:30
-Stay hydrated, drink lots of water - avoid alcohol and caffeine
-Speak sweetly and be respectful of others
-Engage in activities that bring you contentment and happiness.
-Walk in nature, especially in cool environments like the woods, mountains and lakes
-Gaze into the night sky, bathe in the cooling light of the moon, or walk into the rising sun for expanded awareness
-Wear cool colors, greens blues, whites. Avoid the hot and spicy colors of red and orange
-Meditate twice a day