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Amara Obiyo is a graduate student at the University of Texas-Arlington who sells Mary Kay cosmetics in her spare time when she’s not studying or working. A Nigerian student who came to the US when she was a child, she joined the Strategic Business Intelligence Group as an original charter member in March, 2005. Amara is also a founding member of Naija Prime, a UTA student organization of Nigerian and other African students engaged in social and business networking. Amara was the networking connection that introduced SBIG to Nosike Nwankwo, another UTA Nigerian student, a few weeks ago. Mr. Nwankwo is the President of the UTA Student Entrepreneurial Association, and is now engaged in collaborating with SBIG to bring Heather Alden from UT-Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs to the UTA campus in order to speak to the students in the Entrepreneurial

Association about social entrepreneurship. Heather is the program coordinator for Texas’ first business plan competition for social venture entrepreneurs, the Social Innovation Competition. Open to students in the University of Texas system, Texas A&M and Rice University this year, the program will expand to all university students next year. The winner’s prize is a cool $50,000.

As the first such competition in Texas, the Social Innovation Competition is going to provide SBIG with a powerful way to identify potential social venture entrepreneurs and future social enterprise business owners across Texas well before they launch their careers. In a state where social entrepreneurs are almost unknown, this opportunity represents a fantastic way for SBIG to extend our reach, network with potential future clients and membership, and connect with a budding circle of influence with incredibly powerful possibilities in this untapped sector. In other words, it’s a virtual gold mine of opportunity.

And it’s all possible only because Amara Obiyo sells Mary Kay cosmetics. ...read more»

A Focus on Profitibility Serves Long-term Social Goals

Should Female Social Entrepreneurs Focus on Social Responsibility with their Network to Develop Business Relationships with Corporate Decision-Makers?

SBIG is currently working with to extend our networking reach in the female and minority female owned business market in Dallas. In doing so, we are targeting the fastest growing segment of the business start up market in the highest geographical growth sector in the country. According to data produced by the Center for Women's Business Research women are creating businesses twice as fast as the overall market and minority women are doing so at a rate almost eight times faster. The most rapid growth is in the Southwestern US, and Texas is currently 2nd in the nation in the number of women owned businesses. This statistic is deceiving however; despite the large number of women owned firms in Texas, the state ranks only 26th nationally in growth rate, 28th in employment and 26th in sales for these businesses. This tells us that Texas lags far behind where they should be in terms of the impact its women owned businesses are making.

A second study by the Center for Women’s Business Research titled, Proven Strategies and Corporate Perspectives; Methods that Work for Creating Corporate Clients, notes that for women owned businesses doing over $1 million a year in revenue, 56% do business with large corporations, and 40% under $1 million in revenue also do business with corporations,...read more»