Mentoring, key to the growth of women in business

March
13, 2021

6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

An exemplary woman brings great satisfactions. This is demonstrated by the study When women lead, firms win by Standard & Poor’s. Well, when women lead, companies earn up to $ 1.8 billion worldwide.

And although only 39% of companies in Mexico have been founded by women, according to the Association of Entrepreneurs of Mexico ( ASEM ), their businesses are precisely more profitable than those run by men, according to the report Women Entrepreneurs: an unexplored investment opportunity , from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

The IDB notes that women entrepreneurs in Latin America receive up to 50% less investment, and their companies achieve income up to 20% higher than companies founded by men. However, women are the ones who have been most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. A clear example is that as daycare services, schools and other services continue to be closed, they have to work more and are not paid; and because they do not have time available, they cannot grow their businesses.

But they well say that “there is a time for everything.” Therefore, we invite you to the webinar organized by Entrepreneur and Mastercard called Woman 4.0, forming alliances and leadership with a cause , where four successful women will be the speakers: Silvina Moschini, CEO of SheWorks! and TransparentBusiness, Marcela Carrasco, president of the Andean Division of Mastercard, Gabriela Lucke, director of INCAE’s Collaborative Center and Female Leadership, and Claudia Corona, founder of Impronta Verde and Co-Leader of the 30% Club.

Technology will be the protagonist of this webinar that will take place on March 17 at 3:00 pm ( Mexico City time) through the Entrepreneur networks in Spanish .

Technology became the balm in the pandemic, as it has prevented an economic and social collapse. Thanks to it, companies were able to operate remotely. Therefore, today more than ever it is essential to invest in technological tools for your business to succeed. The goal is to produce more, better and in less time.

In the technology sector, women are the ones who have the greatest challenges when undertaking entrepreneurship. Since 2010, only 43% of tech startups founded by a woman have been funded, according to Endeavor, an organization that promotes high-impact entrepreneurs.

Good advice is the way to success

One of the speakers at the Mujer 4.0 webinar, forming alliances and leadership with a cause , is Claudia Corona, passionate about innovation in the food and agriculture sector. She is the founder of Impronta Verde , a consultancy that promotes disruptive solutions to reduce food waste and greenhouse gas emissions throughout the supply chain. Before starting he worked for more than 20 years in global banks; and in leading multinational companies such as Comex and ECOM Group.

Claudia Corona knows that good advice is the way to success; Therefore, she has had mentors who have helped her understand different perspectives, languages and different ways of solving situations. “The harshest comments I have received have been from women trying to fit into a masculine milieu. I think they judged with more severe criteria than men because they had to open a gap for others ”, shares Claudia Corona, founder of Impronta Verde and Co-Leader of the 30% Club for Entrepreneur in Spanish.

Her fight for equality changed when she decided to become a mother, especially since flexible hours weren’t common 13 years ago. “I had to work overtime and show undeniable results. I feel very proud of having made it possible for others to have access to my same work scheme ”.

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Claudia Corona is very good at negotiating, so we ask her for her best tips for our Entrepreneur reader:

1. Knowing your personality is vital. To know how to act and connect with people. To do this, you must develop empathy and humility.
2. Set points of agreement and disagreement diplomatically . To achieve this you must have confidence in yourself and use your voice to say what is valid and what is not negotiable.
3. Know how to listen and read body language . It helps a lot to understand the reactions of the other person to generate a dynamic that helps you achieve your goal.
4. Profiling very well the person with whom you are going to negotiate . To find common and different points that are very useful for dialogue when conversations get tense. Take a breath when the conversation stalls.
5. Be up to date on various topics. Sometimes it helps to connect in multiple situations, especially, to know habits and customs in other countries.
6. Attend to the details . You have to see the whole forest, but in the details you discover definitive turning points for forging long-term relationships.

And how to detect opportunities in adverse environments? The best advice from this entrepreneur is to know the trends and the environment. Stay alert to needs and look for ways to innovate because this makes the opportunities stand out.

Finally, for the woman who aspires to the top management of a company, she recommends: be curious, be willing to experiment, learn and adapt in short terms. Having resilience and tenacity is crucial to knowing how to get up after failure and learn from it.

Learn more about the subject and learn how to boost your leadership in the webinar: Woman 4.0, forming alliances and leadership with a cause .   We are waiting for you on March 17 at 3:00 pm (Mexico City time) in the Entrepreneur Networks in Spanish