Press
This is a great article that originally ran in the Cyprus Mail about a women's business group called, Women In Business (WIB).
When professional women link up to help each other Far more unites men and women than divides them, but, when it comes to networking, the maintaining of friendships and mutually beneficial business contacts, women win hands down. In a world where ‘What goes around comes around’, it’s women who are more likely to be the beneficiaries: with most displaying a kindred spirit towards their sex, they will willingly pass on contacts in order to give a leg up to otherwomen starting out.
Formalizing this practice has begun in Paphos with the emergence of a ‘Women in Business’ group, set up 18 months ago by Barbara Wray. “I first became aware of WIB in the UK when a friend dragged me to a meeting,” said Wray. “I went, expecting it to be a gossip centre and a virtual clone of theWomen’s Institute, where the only positive exchanges would be sponge cake recipes. “In fact, it was the opposite. I found it, slick, professional, and interesting. I immediately signed up to the whole philosophy, and over the years mybusiness really did benefit from joining WIB.”
When she moved to Paphos from the UK, she soon realised there was a genuine need for a similar group to be set up. “We had a large number of young career women here needing help with a variety of problems associated with the setting up and running of a professional business. Not least, was the lack of knowledge on how to cope with the mountain of paperwork that almost every government office throws at you in order just to get abusiness registered…” From a small group of like-minded women, they have now grown into an organsisation boasting a mailing list of over 200, having attracted a wide variety of working women, “all of whom have genuinely benefited in some way from being members”.
“These benefits come in many different forms,” says Wray. “The tangible form is the practical professional help given to a woman by introducing her to other members who have become expert at navigating through the nitty gritty registration route; also they are there to help pass on knowledge about all the EU rulings, HASAP, tax regulations, employment and immigration laws, sales, marketing and design. “The unquantifiable benefits have to be the feeling of some level of business security one gets by being able to meet regularly with such a friendly and caring group of women.”
The group sets up around 11 seminars annually, and, once a month they have a meeting/workshop where speakers are invited to present their take on a specific situation and offer feasible solutions. They could be an expert in anything from VAT, to import and export laws or the art of marketing on a strict budget. “There is also the additional role we play in being a group based in a foreign country. Although we have a good proportion of Cypriot-born members, we also have a strong contingent from the UK, also Dutch, Russian, Finnish, and German women, all of whom can dip into our talent bank to help understand our local laws, and glean a better understanding of working here. “There is a very positive mentoring situation at work here, with age ranges from early twenties to the over sixties, with the latter group having a wealth of knowledge to pass on to our younger members if needed.
“We also have associate members. These will be women who work in specialised areas such as bankers, lawyers etc. They don’t have their own business, but they do have the inside track on how to get things done and that is a key element of the group.” And why, I ask, is it a strictly ‘women only’ organisation. Surely businessmen would like to reap the same membership benefit and would have considerable experience to offer? “It’s ‘women only’ simply because women do business very differently to men. Our opposite sex are way too competitive and not in a way that sits comfortably with women. That’s not to say women are less competitive, we are just decidedly different, both in the manner used in the workplace, but also in that we are also more willing to nurture others coming up thebusiness ladder. That’s something of a rarity in a male dominated business situation.”
Janice Ruffle, 45, helped Barbara launch the annual women in business awards; she also organises guest speakers, and is the professional PR and marketing person for the group. “I feel this organisation is invaluable, it gets like-minded women together, all of whom try to promote good business motives. No one can join unless they are operating legally, and are willing to adhere to the aims and objectives of the group, which is basically to maintain goodbusiness practices and to help other women succeed in their chosen field. “We have such a great group of women, who happily promote their exchange of services. It’s so important they have this platform, as it’s one which can both support and help launch abusiness. I used to be involved with a similar group in London and found it invaluable, not just from the point of getting good business connections, but it was also a big bonus to be able to meet other women and also socialise with them as well.”