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DISCUSSION
GROUP
What's on your mind?
Packaging Horizons
To Biz or Not To Biz
by Michelle F. Nordlinger
At some point everyone reaches a crossroad in his or her career. It may be the day you look at your desk and decide that what
is staring back at you was not in your life plan. It may come the day the light bulb goes on, and you realize you have a great
idea, and your entrepreneurial juices begin to flow. It may be the day you simply decide to become your own boss and get out of
the rat race.
That day came for Women in Packaging, Inc. (WMPKG) Founding Executive Director JoAnn R. Hines nine years ago. It took getting
fired from a job she loved to hate to realize that she had big ideas that would benefit the packaging industry. As a result,
WMPKG was born! "When I think about all of the time I put into whether to start a new business, albeit a non-profit venture,
or to continue in the corporate world, I am certain I could have another two years under the organization's belt. What held
me back was the security of the job I had. Losing that job pushed me into establishing the organization I had only dreamed
about previously," recalls Hines. "Now look at it!"
Hines' decision to start a business on her own is not unique among women. Today, more than 50 percent of WMPKG members share
that entrepreneurial spirit. Half of the organization's members are proprietors of women-owned businesses. This statistic is
not surprising when you look at the overall population of today's businesses.
Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau released its long awaited, quinquennial business survey on women-owned businesses in the
United States. This Census survey confirms research and projections, which indicate that the growth of women-owned businesses
is continuing to outpace the rate of growth for all businesses by a factor of three to one. In fact, the growth of women-owned
firms is triple that of all U.S. firms.
Kay Koplovitz, chair of the National Women's Business Council, reports, "While these findings are impressive enough, they don't
tell the whole story. This survey leaves out over four million women-owned businesses which account for the greatest growth in
revenues and employment."
According to Working Woman magazine, which has chronicled the growth of the 500 largest firms led by women, the 2000 revenues of
these top performers approached $100 billion and employment neared 400,000. Over the last two decades, the survey has revealed not
only the dramatic growth of women-owned businesses, but also their economic power. From 1982 to 1999, the number of women-owned
businesses increased by 250 percent - from 2.6 million to an estimated 9.1 million.
As the leader of WMPKG, Hines is intricately involved in empowering entrepreneurs. She works closely with the Small Business Administration,
the National Women's Business Council, and Working Women's Network to fine tune their programs to the benefit of women who are interested in
starting their own businesses. WMPKG benefits women-owned business by addressing cutting edge issues of access to capital and access to markets
that have posed a challenge to women seeking to launch and grow their businesses.
WMPKG offers many tools to assist women in the development and realization of their business ventures. The organization's extensive list of hotlinks
and project planning programs direct entrepreneurs to organizations that can offer assistance. To access this resource, please go to
www.womeninpackaging.org.
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