FCEM in 2009 - what do we want from it?

Britta
(102 posts)

Written April 15 2009

FCEM in 2009 - what do we want from it?

Dear women in here,
I 'm thinking to go to the next Meeting in Cameroon in October and as usually am I curiuous who else goes?

AS I learned in Brussels last year, that is the place to really meet women entrepeneur from the whole world. I met women from mauritius, argentina, monaco, senegal, ghana, belgium, usa, italy, russia s-corea and so on....

And I learned that many question we raised and talked about help me of being open minded for all the different cultures.
There are same basics the same in the whole world for us as entrepeneur. That is why I love the Meeting FCEM women.

It made my world more "little" if you understand what I mean.

Yours Britta

www.live-con-arte.com

Mary
(72 posts)

Written April 15 2009

Thank you for starting this Britta. I want FCEM to come into the 21st century. Their website has GOT to be updated so we can easily find women entrepreneurs around the globe. I don't understand why they have the emphasis on the C and Go, I don't think most of us have any use for that. We already have those systems established. I wish they would adopt the C-W format here so everyone is not trying to re-invent the wheel.
I think there also has to be a greater understanding of how the leadership is appointed and why it stays for so long. I understand that I am coming from a culture where our association president (NAWBO) changes every year. I understand there are down-sides to both.
I really don't see FCEM working on remaining relevant in today's business world. Three of us who are involved with FCEM spoke at the Businesswomen's Forum for the World Islamic Economic Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia, last month and sadly, none of us mentioned FCEM. So we asked ourselves--what is "missing" that we would not mention FCEM in such a forum?

Julie
(13 posts)

Written April 15 2009

FCEM provides a wonderful opportunity to meet women from many different parts of the world, but I agree with Mary that there are some systems and methods that need modernizing. There is not a user-friendly way to communicate broadly with the entire FCEM network, and the organization as a whole is not yet visible enough to the broader business community to be a catalyst for change or a beacon for women business owners or would-be owners.

Change can only come with engagement and activism, though - so the best way to move things along is to get involved. We in the "New World" tend to want things to move faster and have not as much experience with things ceremonial and with Euro-style protocol. A blend of both is perhaps the next step.

Britta
(102 posts)

Written April 16 2009

Wau, thanks Mary and Julie,

What I'm still curious is of what besides the modern communication way that FCEM has adapt to, has changed over the years.
Are there different women coming?

I have been to my first meeting last year and it was so fanstastic to meet women - like Julie said - from the international business world.
I even met women from germany I did not get to know in Germany!

Mary - FCEM gives to me - the "newcomer" in that organisation a form of networking in an anual meeting and personal way, that I needed because I just started to go international with my business.

Well, Rúna, that is why I love! C-W because I reach powerful women like Julie and Mary and can learn form them.
Like Julie said, let's get involved - that means to put emphasis on the networking that offers FCEM if we all participate.
And maybe we can use C-W for FCEM on the website like Mary mentioned.


Britta - still from a sunny hamburg

Dagmar
(201 posts)

Written April 16 2009

I?m really a big fan of FCEM and I love to meet all the wonderful, intelligent, international woman entrepreneurs at the world congresses each year.
The first congress I attended was in Grand Bay, Mauritius in October 2003 on the theme: ''FCEM: partners for peace and shared prosperity.'' .
It was a unique chance to meet all the woman entrepreneurs from Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Cameroon, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mauritius, Morocco, The Netherlands, Russia, Senegal, South Africa, Taiwan, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States, Iceland, Madagascar, Comoros, Lithuania, Seychelles, Rodriquez Reunion.
I have high respect for the farsightedness which the founders had to establish FCEM. I was impressed by the technological vision some of these woman gave us, for example, the first introduction about C and Go. But now we are in 2009 and in business we communicate with each other with secure access to internet and intranet is a normal part of doing international business together.
Mary, it is interesting that your association president NAWBO changes every year . So there is no down time in NAWBO. We all could learn from the United States.
Maybe, at the next election, we could vote for a technologically oriented FCEM president. This might also help to attract a greater number of young international entrepreneurs to participate like it used to be 2004 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Mary
(72 posts)

Written April 16 2009

Yes it is important to be involved. But I find that the FCEM bylaws really prevent new people from getting involved! We can show up at the meetings but how much "say" do we have in what happens? For example, in Cairo, I was in a contingent of four NAWBO women there and I was the only one that was NOT named to some committee or another, and yet I had been attending FCEM longer (and being quite involved and visible) than the other 3. I was sent as the Chair of NAWBO's International Forum. I have no ill feelings about that at all--but how do we get involved to make change is a BIG question?
My other issue is a personal one--to be "involved" in FCEM is very expensive--all the travel costs from the U.S. make it prohibitive. I would view this differently if--again back to technology--if there was a better/easier way to keep in touch and stay involved in-between the meetings.

Heidi
(9 posts)

Written April 17 2009

I have been working a lot recently on social media and network optimisation. So here is my "2 cents." FCEM, like many women's networks, provides a great format and vision for the future. Mary, your point is very clear and a common issue that these networks face. The community is more physically dispersed and in need of connecting for sharing and maximum effectiveness. It is for precisely this reason that social media sites like Connected-Women come about and are very much needed. As in building any organisation, whether it is a new entrepreneurial endeavor or an established business, it is important to focus on the vision. Technology platforms for communication and knowledge sharing are a whole other business. If advertising revenue is not part of your business model for the network, you do not need to drive traffic to your site. What you do need to do is get information to your members. What they need to learn is how to optimise where their members are already rather than creating yet another place and time consumer for members.

As I mentioned, this is not unique to FCEM, and is a growing problem for established face to face networks with geographically dispersed communities. My best advice is do NOT build another LinkedIn or Connected-Women for your members, but create a space there for members to interact with other members. They should have a way to identify each other as part of the same network within those sites. Of course, a membership directory is useful. But once they find the members they need, let them link to them elsewhere that they are already active. Non-profit networks have too many other great things to do with the limited resources they have. Don't waste resources on trying to keep up with building a new technology platform (that by the way will be out of date in a year so will need updating constantly in order to keep interesting for members).

Rúna
(221 posts)

Written April 17 2009

Hello all fabulous FCEM women!

Thanks Britta for putting up this thread.
Looks like it's really needed, I hope to see lot's of FCEM women from Africa and S-America as well joining the discussion.

I have participated in two FCEM World Congresses, Cairo Egypt 2007 and Brussels, Belgium 2008.
For me the beauty of FCEM is connecting with women entrepreneurs worldwide.

I've gained beautiful friendship with some of these women, a friendship that has both given me business, as well as given me the opportunity to refer business to other women in the network.

My dream vision for FCEM as an organization is to see more younger women taking part. I would like to see more women around 30+ participate. I cherish the experience that is already in FCEM from the members who have worked hard building up the organization, however in order for an organization such as this one to bloom, a new fresh blood needs to have ways to come in with new visions.

It's never good to see the same people for years in stuck in the drivers seat not stepping aside. It's important to be able to have access to the wisdom and experience women who have been controlling FCEM for years. They have an important role as being the mentor for the younger ones.

I would also like to see FCEM being the #1 organization to build up the women leaders this world needs today!>/b> It should be the organization every women entrepreneur and women entrepreneurs national organizations knows off and wants to be part of.

The organization is it's members, using the CW discussion forum to openly discuss our views, is in my opinion a great way to build up even greater FCEM!

My best,
Rúna

Mary
(72 posts)

Written April 17 2009

The more FCEM grows, the more it will be valuable. I do a lot of work in Africa so I am excited about how FCEM has been doing more outreach to Africa and seeing results. Maybe FCEM should have a presence (representatives) at the KAWBO conference in Nairobi, Kenya, from May 20-22? That would be terrific. I know FCEM would have to fund their own travel and attendance but it would be another great form of outreach to the African continent.

Ethel
(7 posts)

Written April 17 2009

Thank you Britta for initiating this thread.My expectations are high. At least I am sure to a greater extent to participate since I will not go through the hell of getting a visa.I expect FCEM 2009 amongst its other goals to seriously consider the younger generations of business women by putting in place flexible and efficient measures to reach out to this class of business women most of whom have come to FCEM for inspiration and solutions to obstacles faced in their various fields.How do we pass on the FCEM vision and encourage more women to come in.The values of FCEM members should not be centered on financial power.This is the syndrome I dread most,let the opportunities be reachable to all.

Dagmar
(201 posts)

Written April 17 2009

Runa you are so right. The number of participants at the Congresses has significantly abated although the increase of the African countries within FCEM has been a wonderful, colourful enrichment.

So we have to attract more and younger members to FCEM.

Therefore we have to discuss new proposals and the possibilities of implementing technological progress in our FCEM network. We all need to work hard to help create a high quality of meetings (Congresses) to continue being interesting to the top woman entrepreneurs worldwide .