Next New Zealand – September 2019

‘MEN ARE MUCH MORE

SUPPORTIVE OF WOMEN

IN BUSINESS NOW’

Venushasa fairlystructurednetworkingformat.

Womencommittofortnightlymeetingsandthere’s

alwaysa discussiontopic.Everyonetalksfora minute

onhowthatsubjectrelatestotheirbusinessandone

group member does a presentation every week.

There’s anexpectationeachwoman willcatch up

witha coupleofmembersone-on-oneaswell.

BETTER TOGETHER

“Themeetingsaren’tlongenoughtoreallyconnect

witheveryonesoweencourageourmemberstoget

toknowtheirgroupbetterduringtheweek.Atthe

endofeverymeetingweaskeachwomantotellus

whattheirwinwasforthe fortnightsotheyleave

feeling positiveand supported.Womencanbe so

criticalofthemselves.”

CarolynboughtVenusin 2016 whenVanessawas

ready to move on and has since registered it as

a charity.“Ibelievedlongtermit neededtobea

business that would stand on its own two feet

without me. We received charitable status in

October 2018 soVenusis nowanentityinitsown

right.I can’ttakea prot– it hastobereinvested.”

Caroylnis veryexcitedaboutthefutureforwomen

in business in New Zealand. “I think things are

changing– whenI startedoutinthebusinessworld

womenhadtobereallyfeistyinordertobeheard.

Wereallyhadtotaketheboyson.Menaremuch

more supportive of women in business now, it’s

great. Support is growing every day for female

entrepreneurship.”

THE FUTURE ISBRIGHT

“I reallybelievethatashumanbeingsweallneedto

feelwearepartofsomethingbiggerthanus,”she

adds.“It’stoohardtolearneverythingfromscratch

onyourownandit’ssogreattobepartofcreating

this amazing community of like-minded women

whocansupporteachotherandhelpdevelopeach

other’sbusinesses.”

*

practical resources. These days, Co.

Of Women also runs in person-events and

training programmes.

Tara had to learn how women operate

in business to really understand how to

support them. “We had a help desk but no

one used it and we realised women won’t

ask for support easily on the phone as their

role is often to enquire how everyone else is

doing.” Co.Of Women was dealing with

businesses that were serious about growth

but still found there were some ideas that

had to be understood in order to help

them move forward.

“I learned that as women we are born to

be mothers. Whether we have kids or not

• we still have the same biological instinct,”
  she says. “We had to learn how to get
  these woman to not try and disconnect
  themselves from these innate female
  qualities but instead to harness them in a
  way that would best serve their worklife
  aspirations. We learned that women really
  want to make a difference with their
  businesses, but we had to help them
  understand that they need to focus on it
  being ‘for prot, for good’, in that order,
  not the other way round.”

PRACTICAL HELP

Tara also learned that women need more

than networking and events where they

can hear inspiring business owners speak.

They needed to work out what practical

steps they need to take next. “Our

model is based on the neuroscience of

human performance, the commercial

understanding of what any business

needs to do well, plus an in-depth

understanding of the female factor. After

spending nearly seven years getting it

right, I believe that our model is world

class and the next stage for us is about

making this widely available so that we

can help more New Zealand women

achieve their business goals.”

dowell, plus an understanding of the female factor’

SEPTEMBER 2019 / NEXT 71