Guest Author - Guido Deboeck

After traveling for more than two decades to countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America to design and supervise infrastructure projects, she upon retiring from the World Bank, decided to setup a business to help women artisans in poor countries.

She established e-maginativeGifts , a dynamic business (see related link) that imports products from women artisans around the world. Her company currently imports fashionable scarves, evening bags, cosmetic and lipstick cases and other quality women’s accessories; smocked girls’ dresses and children’s sweaters; ties for men; picture frames, and other accessories for the home and office. These crafts come from all parts of the globe: Bolivia, Cambodia, China, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, India, Madagascar, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam (see Photo Galleries in related links). All of her contacts with suppliers are via e-mail; all shipments are via the post or FedEx services (no container loads yet…). She combines a conventional approach of selling through crafts fairs and home shows with a modern marketing through e-stores, e-auctions at EBAY and through her website.

She buys high quality, products directly from women, women’s cooperatives, physically impaired and sells these to customers in the US at competitive prices. The main purpose of her business is to create markets, to provide better access to quality products made by poor women. She aims to increase sales, generate profit, and channel proceeds to women in poor countries.

What started out five years ago as a part time has now developed in a sizable business affecting hundreds of women! It involves a lot of work especially when it comes to attending dozens of fairs each year: loading a station wagon full of goods, driving to local fairs, setting up shop, selling to customers for a day or two, and after each fair packing everything back up.

In between she attends to customers who order on-line, keeps contact with suppliers, and finds new ones. She seldom things of all the work it takes; what matters to her is “ Helping women to better their lives “ especially helping women to support their family by providing them with higher incomes which brings food, health care, and education to their children.

That is Hers! His business is different. Or is it? After spending about an equal amount of time (two decades plus) kicking technology into the World Bank, he now works from home on a computer with three displays. Each display contains market information: charts with real time data, tables and charts with tecnical and fundamental data, spreadsheets of portfolio holdings. He buys and sells stocks on-line for several accounts. You immediately think: “he plays the markets”, but you are wrong, to him it is serious business. Since the markets often change direction, he must be quick in adjusting to changing market circumstances. He must be patient to let good stocks run. He must be competitive, aggressive on occasions, always prudent with the assets that he has been entrusted to manage. Last year Apple and Google were great profit centers; the year before that it was EBAY. This year oil and commodities seem to work best. She often says:”{she} would not be able to do what he does”!

He keeps a sharp eye on markets in China, Russia, India, Brazil, Mexico and all those emerging markets. When his holdings go up he spends time on fine-tuning his portfolios and benchmarks; when they are flat or go down he moves to the sidelines. When that happens (or when he cannot sleep at night…) he writes articles to help women become better investment managers. He figures that after so many years of learning how the markets work, so much free education, an all the professional publications, he has something to share. If he does not write about investments, he thinks about beer brewing or cooking with beer (see related link).

Are His and Her businesses that different? Judge yourself: She has to watch out for changing trends in fashion, in tastes, in capability of women to buy; he has to watch for changes in market trends. She has to decide what products to stock; he has to decide what to buy or hold. She has to move a lot of stuff around; he has to constantly turnover his holdings. She has to recognize bad acquisitions; he has to avoid losses. She aims to increase gross revenues and profits; he shoots for higher returns all the time. Both focus sharply on their goals.

His and Hers is one hell of a way to share retirement! The morale of the story is this: if you happen to be stuck in a job, a company or an institution, that does not allow you to achieve your full potential, remember this, there is always life after it; or if you have a portfolio that is not yet performing to the standards you like, there is always a way to restart.

All you have to do on occasion is to make a couple of right turns!