N. Mexico Great Climate For Business
Politics and cyberspace dominated the recent New Mexico Women’s Business Conference as nearly 500 women gathered to exchange information, business cards and financial goals.
Although New Mexico ranks 47th in U.S. per capita income, it ranks among the top five states in terms of numbers of new women-owned businesses, according to recent surveys. Conference organizers said a combination of single mothers anxious to make more money and women moving in from other states has made New Mexico fertile ground for small start-ups.
Several women attending the conference said they ended up in New Mexico looking for a fresh start and spiritual growth or had followed their husbands to new jobs in the state. In either case, the results are clear. “The business climate here is excellent,” said Kathleen Avila, chairman of the board of the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. “Small and minority-owned businesses are growing rapidly.”
Avila, co-owner of Casa de Avila, a chain of airport retail stores, said that by the end of the year, she and her husband, John, will have 10 stores selling arts and crafts. They also have other real-estate interests.
Adjacent to the conference was a busy trade show, where participants could find local handmade pottery, ski hats and woven jackets - along with computer equipment, insurance advice and financial-service information. The two-day session also featured seminars on personnel, financing and getting involved in Internet commerce and politics.
Although there are more women serving in Congress now than ever before - 9 in the Senate and 51 in the House - “there is still a great deal to do,” said conference speaker Cokie Roberts, National Public Radio commentator and ABC co-anchor.
When asked when she thought Americans would finally elect a woman president, Roberts predicted it would probably be a Republican and that she would be “the vice president who gets the job when the guy dies.”
Roberts said she admired women entrepreneurs for taking risks in business, admitting she doesn’t have the guts to go into business for herself. “I take a risk every day by showing up and talking,” she joked with the crowd that later gave her a standing ovation.
Roberts’ parents, Louisiana Democrats Tom “Hale” and Corinne “Lindy” Boggs, both served in Congress. Roberts said she was especially proud of the work her mother did while serving on the House Banking Committee. During the drafting of the Equal Credit bill, which mentioned race, her mother penciled in that credit could not be denied on the basis of “sex or marital status.”
“When she wrote it in, she said to her colleagues, ‘I’m sure this is just an omission,’ in her sweet, Southern, ladylike way,” said Roberts.
Her mother filled her father’s congressional seat after he died in a 1972 plane crash in Alaska. Lindy Boggs was re-elected to Congress several times. At 80, she remains active in Democratic politics and is being considered for U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, Roberts said.
In addition to lively discussions on how women can become more politically active, participants were urged to get over their technophobia and put their companies online.
Aliza Sherman, founder of Cybergrrl Inc., urged women to get their businesses online as a way to boost sales locally and internationally. Sherman’s 15-person Manhattan-based company provides Web marketing services to big and small clients. She’s also the founder of “Webgrrls,” an international network of women sharing information, training and business contacts online. (Check out her Web site: www.cybergrrl.com.)
“New Women: New Leadership” is the theme of a leadership symposium scheduled for Oct. 24 in New York City. Targeted to senior executives and high-level managers, the symposium is designed to “create a new vision for women in leadership roles,” according to conference founder Judith Addington.
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