1. Creating Change for Women
The Westpac Case
Ann Sherry
May 2004
Justin Lane, Regionsl Manager

2. What I will cover
Why would a bank like Westpac be involved in creating change for women
Key Market Opportunities
An overview of Small Medium Enterprises in New Zealand
Initiatives to support Women in their careers and business
Westpac Partnering Women
The Potential of Women
Personal and Collective Power
Summary
I thought I should touch on why Westpac in particular is here – we appreciate the opportunity to partner with government and we reliase the absolute importaunce os mall businesses

3. Westpac involvement – the base case
Recognition of women as key influencers in business and financial decision making
Establishment of key initiatives to succeed in this market and reflect the value of women as customers and employees
Promoting Westpac’s partnership approach to meet both the personal and business needs of women and in turn to acquire, grow and retain business for Westpac
Assisting women to unleash their potential and help both themselves and the wider economy
An investment in New Zealand’s future as Small Businesses are the powerhouse of economic growth
I thought I should touch on why Westpac in particular is here – we appreciate the opportunity to partner with government and we reliase the absolute importaunce os mall businesses

4. The Drivers and Key Market Opportunities
Women are leading the way for new business start-ups for reasons including
- innate affinity & enjoyment for creativity & innovation
- flexibility of lifestyle
- disillusionment with employers and large organisations
NZ women rank in the top 3 countries globally for entrepreneurship
Women own and operate almost 40% of small businesses in NZ
Women are more conservative in investment and business decisions
Women influence 82% of household purchasing decisions
Westpac has created first mover advantage

5. An Overview of NZ Small Business Enterprises
Over 270,000 business enterprises in New Zealand are Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
87% of businesses employ 5 or fewer full time staff
97% of businesses employ less than 20 full time staff
SMEs are a powerhouse of economic growth employing 43% of the full time staff in the economy and generating 39% of the output
They created a net 130,000 additional jobs between 1995 and 2001(compared to a small decline for non-SMEs)
Source: Ministry of Economic Development, 2002 “SMEs in New Zealand: Structure and Dynamics”
The message here is simple – Small Enterprises are a huge component of this economy!

6. Initiatives to Support this market
Elevation of women to senior decision making roles in Westpac (now 4 out of 12 on the Executive team)
Sponsoring the publication of the book Woman 2 Woman - a guide for those looking to change careers or develop their own business
Promotion of the book as a catalyst to confirm Westpac’s commitment to all women and development of future alliances with women in business
Facilitating networking opportunities for women – W2W website
Providing business, investment and financial skills improvement seminars and courses
Mentoring programmes for women’s groups and industry
Partnership approach to build strong relationships with key groups

7. The Partnership for Westpac and Women
Senior Westpac Women in management plus gender split is 72% women across the organisation and across age groups.
Establishment of a specialist team of women champions across all business groups – SME, Investment, Rural, Govt, Property, Maori
Availability of an experienced team of financial and industry experts
Mutual understanding of needs and how to add value
Open and honest two way communication
Recognising and extending relationships with key influencers to ensure win – win outcomes for all parties
Understand what you want and make sure what you get works for you
If you can bare with me for a moment, some quick observations that might provide clarity about the relationship that exist between Baners and Business owners;
Most poor experiences with Banks ate about bad communication and lack of education – the bankers lack of education about your business and abusiness owners lack of understanding of banks procesures and constraints –
The way for banks to make money is to lend money to businesses who pay them back – we won’t to lend you money to progress. BUT many businesses disapear… this can make a banker cautious!
To make matters worse many business owners do not understand leaverage – or why more debt equalls more risk AND they tend to overstate ther optimism and understate the need for capital AND they often do not have accurate timely information. But they have an almost religious belief that things will be fine of they get the funds to “get them over hump” some of you might things sounds familiar and some that I am being unduly simplistic!

8. Unleashing the Potential of Women
Recent research confirms women can both deliver improved financial results and be inspirational leaders
The development of women in careers and business is a serious issue for long-term economic sustainability eg 72% of our own business
Encourage women to go for the big jobs and the big organisatons
Women leaders can implement change from the top
Force business to reconsider the way they are organised and how they operate
Today business needs smart, sane, competent people
What this means is that the business owner has not determined solvency, risk and efficiency. Why?
- one of the largest failings is understanding the cost of growth – yes more sales has seen the closure of many a company! Watch that GP
What do you spend most of your day doing? Often focussed on sales or focussed on making or delivering something – thats the operation of the business.
I’m about to move onto a terrible subject – financial ratios. These can make many people run for the hills! If your only financial ratio is your level of sales the growing your knowledghe in this area is 100% guaranteed to make you money and in the process will see you move beyond survival.
Some examples of ratio’s are:
Gross margin
Currenbt ratio
Inventory (stock) turnover

9. The Personal and Collective Power
Understand yourself, your business and your passion
Channel your energy into owning your business rather than your business owning you - take the holiday test
Maximise your strengths and call in experts to assist when needed
Employ, reward and retain great people
Recognise, promote and celebrate the fact that small businesses are the backbone of the economy for most countries and women play a key role
Ensure Women’s creativity continues to change and enhance the status quo both in careers and business
Break even analysis
Let's summarise the point. You're in business -- among other reasons -- to make a profit. Sometimes a volume increase is good and sometimes not. We can tell you this: many times we've had clients come to us complaining, “I'm working longer, harder, and selling more -- but I'm getting ‘behinder’ on profits. Something is wrong!”
Break-even analysis identifies that point where revenues exactly cover costs -- so that no profit is generated, but no loss is incurred. As a management tool, it extends to a much broader application. Using it, you can answer questions such as:
What additional sales will I need to cover the rent increase my landlord is proposing?
If I raise prices, how much can my sales drop before my profits are affected?
If sales drop (in a recession, for example), how much do I need to cut fixed costs to maintain my current level of profit?
If I cut my price, what additional sales will I have to make in order to maintain my current profit level?

10. Summary
Westpac has recognised the current and future power of women as a key customer group
The profile of Westpac has increased and confirmed the commitment to all women
We recognise and celebrate the fact that small businesses are the backbone of the economy for most countries From Business survival… to excellence
Partnering is the key to maximising the group strength of women
You owe it to yourselves to realise the potential and grow the economy of your country
BUT most importantly remember the women coming behind you!