POWE - Networking For Women and how it can help small Canadian businesses

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The Power of Women Exchange (POWE) has established itself as a great new way for  women executives, entrepreneurs and professionals to interact and develop business relationships. The fact that POWE has just celebrated its third anniversary is testament to its continued success.  

POWE is a networking group for women and is built on the basis that it uses its membership first. So when a fellow business woman, or someone she knows needs a particular service or product they first look to their fellow members to fulfill that need. 

POWE has grown through members referring the group to friends and business acquaintances. This is not a mandatory requirement of POWE, it is simply what the women want to do. They love it, so they want others to experience it too. 

So, what does POWE offer business women? Well, it is not just networking, it is education, support, friendship, business tools and more. Once members join POWE they can not only attend their local chapters, but can go to any chapter. 

The two POWE founders Lia Bandola and Tina Dezsi could only have dreamt of the success that POWE has now become. We chatted to them and fellow director Marlene Marco about POWE and of course themselves. Starting at the beginning, Lia who is now Chief Executive Operating Director of POWE and Tina, Chief Executive Officer met at a marketing workshop in 2001. Both had recently started their own businesses and knew within moments of meeting that they could do great things together, combining their knowledge and utilizing their strengths. From that meeting they set up conferences and a radio  show which they hosted together for 2 years – the It’s Your Life show about health, wellness and lifestyle. 

After attending a Women’s Day Event in Toronto where several speakers took the stand, Tina and Lia came away thinking they wanted to create similar events in the Durham West region. This would mean women didn’t have to go all the way into Toronto to experience these powerful events. At their first conference Dini Petty was headline speaker and has since been headline speaker at three POWE events. Lia goes on to say, 

“We had so many women who had attended the conferences telling us they wished we could have a more regular forum for women to share and network. We thought we’d give a monthly meeting format a try and the rest, as they say, is history!”

They met Marlene at one of the first POWE meetings and recognized that she had special qualities that would make her an ideal Chapter Director. Lia explains, 

 “ When we were were looking for a new Director for Durham West, we approached Marlene and luckily she took us up on our offer. She did such an amazing job with that Chapter that we knew we needed her to be more involved in the organization and was the perfect person to take on the role of Executive Director of Training and Development.” 

We decided to put the women through one of Muchmor’s rigorous Q&A sessions. Well, okay, not that rigorous! 

Find out what they said by clicking here to read the rest of this article

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Tags: Belleville, Business, career, Economy, Jane Toombes, jobs, Lia Bandola, Marlene Marco, networking, Ontario, POWE, small business, Toronto, web, women