What’s the story of your business? Have you considered it?
“Businesspeople should never underestimate the power of story,” according to Valerie Khoo, founder of the Sydney Writers’ Centre. “It’s not just for best-selling books and short stories. What’s going to sell your product and personal brand is absolutely the story behind it.” Valerie and I met at the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Conference in Rio de Janeiro, where she was excited to meet businesswomen from around the world: “Already, 40 percent of our students are online, so they’re already all over Australia and the world. We’re really making a push to go global, so it was great to meet women in business from so many different countries and find out more about their markets and how to expand into their countries.
“Apart from the networking and learning about regional differences and what would work in different markets, this conference has really been about the inspiration. It’s just been so fantastic to see the caliber of women here and to learn from them and leave full of ideas about new ways to do business.”
The Sydney Writers’ Centre offers adult short courses and educational training in all sorts of writing such as business writing, writing for the web, travel writing and magazine writing.
Enjoy this interview with Valerie Khoo at the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network 2011 event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network 2011
From June 5-7 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, more than 120 female business leaders from around the world gathered with Dell to learn about technology, marketing, brand, social media and raising capital while building relationships and sharing insights. It was an impressive group of participants, including Moira Forbes, Arianna Huffington and Luiza Helena Trajano, the founder of the third largest retail chain in Brazil. Over the course of two days, the conference participants explored and learned that women entrepreneurs truly share a unique perspective and approach to business. Building on Dell’s entrepreneurial heritage and recognising the unique challenges and rocky journeys entrepreneurs can face led to the inception of the Dell’s Women Powering Business Initiatives, including Dell’s Women Entrepreneurs’ Network (DWEN). DWEN strives to help women entrepreneurs expand their networks, innovate and grow their businesses. The DWEN event and LinkedIn community supply a social network to grow B2B and exchange ideas to help build confidence. Dell’s believes never in the history of the world has the entrepreneurial spirit been more alive or in a more favourable position to drive global growth. Australian women business leaders are invited to join in the conversation and share who and what inspires and motivates them as entrepreneurs and leaders via the Women Powering Business Network group on LinkedIn.
