July 3, 2009
Social Responsibility in Action
WomenEntrepreneur.com recently had a feature on Francesca Kuglen, HairZing: Social Responsibility in Action.
Francesca Kuglen is not only a client, taking The Henderson Group Art of Presentation workshop in 2005, but she is also the sister of our very own sales guru, Chuck Kuglen.
HairZing has a fresh, innovative and socially-responsible approach to both hairstyling and manufacturing.
HairZing Mission: bring business to female entrepreneurs in areas with limited resources and economic infrastructure.
Advice for would-be social entrepreneurs:
- Do not pick a recession. "Timing is everything," Montgomery says. "Be sure you not only have your own life savings but about four other people's life savings," she jokes.
- Have an open mind and be willing to adjust as needed. Kuglen and Montgomery figured they could communicate and make business work halfway around the world. "The answer is, we couldn't. They need managers," Montgomery says.
- Be consistent. Kuglen and Montgomery want to help needy women everywhere, and they want to do it in an environmentally responsible way. See even in the U.S., those who sell the product tend to be single women or women who are struggling. Consistency also demanded that HairZing change its packaging to be more ecological. "We changed from a toxic plastic to a biodegradable plastic," Kuglen says. "That took a tremendous cost. We'd already designed a fabulous package. And we said, 'Let's go back and redo that.' "
- WomenEntrepreneur.com, Eve Gumpel


