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Prince Charles Invests In Clean Tech Startup

2012-02-22T22:07:02Z

By Adveith Nair

LONDON (Reuters) - The Prince of Wales' private estate and financier Jacob Rothschild are among a group of investors who plan to invest more than 65 million pounds ($103 million) in a clean technology start-up focused on producing energy from organic waste matter.

The new company, Tamar Energy, will develop a network of over 40 anaerobic digestion plants to generate 100 megawatt of green electricity over the next five years, the consortium said on Wednesday.

The investor group is led by Rothschild's London-listed RIT Capital Partners and Fajr Capital, along with the Duchy of Cornwall, Lord Rothschild's Family Interests, and supermarket group J Sainsbury, among others.

Anaerobic Digestion is the conversion of organic waste material into biogas by bacteria. The methane-rich biogas can then be used either in a local generating plant to produce electricity, or cleaned and injected into the gas grid.

According to a report published last September by green energy consultancies, there are already 214 anaerobic digestion facilities in Britain, with a total installed generating capacity of 170 MW.

"This investment shows there are great business opportunities in this technology, creating heat and power to run homes and businesses and reducing the amount of organic waste that would otherwise lie rotting in landfill," Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said.

Sainsbury, which is investing 2 million pounds in the venture, said it will work with suppliers to ensure that they have access to Tamar's new plants, which it said would reduce waste in the supply chain.

($1 = 0.6321 British pounds)

(Reporting by Adveith Nair, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)

Arizona GOP Leader: Let Kids Work For $4.65 An Hour

2012-02-22T21:31:01Z

WASHINGTON -- Republican lawmakers in Arizona are pushing legislation that would lower the legal minimum wage for younger part-time workers and tipped workers such as restaurant servers, just as Florida lawmakers are considering dropping their state's tipped rate as well.

In both cases, proponents of the measures are arguing that the wage floor for such employees is too onerous on businesses.

The Arizona proposal, HCR 2056, would amend state law so that an employer could pay a teenage worker $3 less than the current minimum wage per hour if the worker is employed either part-time or on a temporary basis. The Arizona minimum wage is currently $7.65 -- forty cents more than the federal rate -- meaning that many teenagers could end up being paid $4.65 per hour if voters approve the proposal in a ballot initiative later this year.

An amendment to the legislation would also cut the minimum wage that employers must pay tipped employees by more than $2 per hour. The minimum wage for servers and other tipped workers in Arizona is currently $4.65. If a worker's tips don't add up to the normal minimum wage of $7.65, the employer must cover the difference -- a stipulation that would not change with the legislation.

The proposal, which was sponsored by the House of Representatives' majority leader, Rep. Steve Court (R-Mesa), passed through the state commerce committee last week along party lines. Court could not be reached for comment. According to an article by Arizona's Cronkite News Service, Court said at a recent hearing that the minimum wage for teenagers is "causing employers to employ fewer people. It also makes us a lot less competitive."

The amendment to the Arizona legislation is similar to a proposal in the Florida legislature, where the tourism and commerce committee is considering giving businesses the option of dropping the state minimum wage for servers, currently $4.65, in favor of the lower federal one of $2.13. However, if the employer opts for the lower wage and the employee doesn't earn at least $9.98 per hour after tips, the employer would have to make up the difference.

Since the proposal surfaced in the GOP-controlled legislature earlier this month, some Florida lawmakers and businesses have faced a backlash, with worker advocacy groups denouncing it as an attack on low-wage workers and a boon to the restaurant industry. Members of the Florida AFL-CIO have been leaving literature behind on restaurant tables to inform servers of the potential changes, and the group also put together a protest outside an Outback Steakhouse in Miami Lakes. Organizers encouraged attendees to dress in 1980's garb to mock a minimum wage they described as being from an earlier era.

Outback Steakhouse's parent company, OSI Restaurant Partners, supports the Florida measure, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The Tampa-based company, which counts Carrabba's Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill among its holdings, gave more than $120,000 last year to 32 Republicans running for state office.

Carol Dover, president of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, told The Huffington Post in a statement that the proposal under consideration has been mischaracterized. "There appears to be confusion as to the legislation," said Dover, whose trade group supports the proposal. "No one is having their wages cut. Employees are being guaranteed 130% of the state minimum wage if the employer elects to offer that option."

But Rich Templin, legislative and political director of the Florida AFL-CIO, argues that the measure would simply let employers save money at workers' expense.

"We believe that many people in the legislature, from both sides of the aisle, once they understand what it's about will not be supportive of this," says Templin. "It really is a pretty despicable idea."

GOP Lawmaker Seeks To Make Birth Control 'Obsolete And Outdated'

2012-02-22T21:29:27Z

A Republican lawmaker in New Hampshire has proposed repealing the state's requirement to provide insurance coverage for birth control by attaching the measure to a bill aimed to repeal "obsolete and outdated" laws.

State Rep. Andrew Manuse (R-Derry) has proposed the amendment to end the contraception law to a piece of routine legislation clearing older laws off the books, the Concord Monitor reports. Manuse's amendment, first proposed Tuesday as the routine legislation was being heard by a legislative committee, would exclude both religious organizations, along with private companies that have religious objections, from the requirement to provide birth control.

The Monitor reports:

Current state law, passed in 1999 with bipartisan support and no objection from the Diocese of Manchester, requires insurance companies to cover contraceptive care. Employers, including churches, can bypass the requirement by self-insuring, and that is what the diocese does.
Manuse's repeal of that mandate surfaced publicly for the first time yesterday as an amendment to an unrelated bill that eliminates "obsolete or outdated" provisions from various state laws. The housekeeping bill Manuse chose -- which does not deal with insurance, contraception or religious exemptions -- was scheduled for a public hearing and a vote yesterday by the recodification committee.

Manuse's proposal, which is co-sponsored by House Speaker Bill O'Brien (R-Mont Vernon), did not surprise legislative Democrats who are planning a floor fight to stop the bill. Senate Minority Leader Sylvia Larsen (D-Concord) said that Manuse had stated his desire to repeal the provision, but they were surprised with the bill he choose. Larsen said the original law passed a Republican-controlled legislature before being signed by then Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D).

"He's tacked it on to a deadwood bill," Larsen told HuffPost. "It was meant to be an uncontroversial housekeeping bill. Now it's a nightmare bill."

Larsen said that O'Brien has already ruled the amendment -- which will be heard by a state House committee later this week -- as germaine. The "obsolete and outdated" bill that would be amended contains repeals of a variety of laws that state officials have deemed ready to take off the books. Among the two dozen measures contained in the bill are the repeal of laws relating to the training of campus security officers, a report on school accounting standards, a certificate of need for a Strafford County nursing home and the retirement age of probate court judges. No contraception or abortion related legislation is in the bill.

Manuse and O'Brien's spokeswoman did not return calls for comment.

Kevin Donovan, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, told HuffPost that the diocese did not have a position on the amendment but confirmed that an attorney who worked with the diocese did provide advice to Manuse on the drafting of the amendment. He said the advice was limited to providing wording from a similar proposal in Missouri.

The amendment comes the same week that the Tea Party-controlled New Hampshire House passed a resolution calling on the Obama Administration to repeal the federal birth control requirement for religious organizations. The resolution's passage came after a committee hearing where one Republican lawmaker said that birth control causes prostate cancer and another GOP lawmaker said that married couples should practice abstinence except when they want to conceive.

Larsen said that she believes Manuse's amendment can fail in the Republican-controlled state Senate, which she said is not as conservative as the House. She noted it is likely Gov. John Lynch (D) will veto the bill if it contains the amendment. She also had an opinion on Manuse wanting to call the law "obsolete and outdated."

"If they consider that outdated," she said, "I would consider them outdated."

Pawnshops Accepting Wine As Collateral

2012-02-22T20:00:00Z

By Leslie Gevirtz

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some U.S. pawnbrokers are taking liquid assets - literally.

Along with family jewels and fine art they will accept wines as collateral for loans to help ease cash shortages of businesses and people on all rungs of the economic ladder.

"You'd be amazed by how many wealthy individuals have terrible credit ratings," said Jordan Tabach-Bank, head of Beverly Loan Co. in Beverly Hills, California.

"And besides, if you go to a bank, it can take weeks or months to get a loan. When we make a loan, it's usually the same day,"

The pawnshop for the prosperous lends to hedge-fund managers, bankers, lawyers, doctors and even Oscar winners.

"Most people have a vision of pawn shops as sad sites. But that's not the case here," Tabach-Bank said. "I have a lot of people who come in who have a business opportunity and they need an infusion of cash for business purposes."

USGoldBuyers.com, an online pawnbroker with an office in New York, will also accept fine wines, said spokesman Jose Caba, adding that the rich do not always have liquid assets to keep up with their expensive toys.

"That's where we come in," he said. "We don't really want to sell the wine, or any asset that we take in whether it be gold or fine art."

He estimates that about 90 percent of the loans made have been repaid.

But interest rates and length of the loans vary widely.

British-based pawnbroker, borro.com, recently lent $120,000 in exchange for 128 bottles of Chateau d'Yquem, which had an estimated worth of $250,000.

Within the last three weeks, borro.com had taken a case of 1989 Chateau Petrus, valued at about $38,000, for a loan of $24,000, said its Chief Executive Paul Aitken.

Loans were also secured on various vintages of the five First Growths Bordeaux: Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Haut-Brion, Chateau Margaux and Chateau Mouton Rothschild -- top wines regularly sold at auctions where cases fetch tens of thousands of dollars.

Aitken's clientele, whose net worth ranges from $1 million to $10 million, are mostly small business owners with cash flow problems. Financial advisers and wealth managers recommend many of their clients to him.

Britain's Prime Asset Loans, based in Durham, has a specific list of wines it will loan against including the First Growth Bordeaux, Burgundy's Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and, depending on the vintage, Australia's renowned Penfolds Grange.

"We lend up to 70 percent of the value of the wines and the term is usually seven months," said Richard Mews, a partner at Prime Asset Loans. "Investors are using this type of loan more as it is quick, easy and there are no fees."

Credit Municipal de Paris, which has been offering loans against fine wines, champagnes and aged spirits since 2008, can keep more than 90,000 bottles in its 18th century wine cellar.

"Just deposit your bottles against a loan that is immediately awarded," said spokeswoman Florence Marambat, adding that Bordeaux were the wines most frequently offered as collateral.

(Reporting By Leslie Gevirtz; Additional reporting by Dominique Vidalon in Paris; Editing by Richard Chang and Patricia Reaney)

And Startup Weekend Detroit's Winner Is..

2012-02-22T18:06:00Z

DETROIT -- Nathan Cahill put together the plan for LiveSnip, a web service that aims to manage peripatetic browsing habits, in just 54 hours over Startup Weekend Detroit.

The 15 companies germinated during the business plan competition this past weekend might not all reach full size, but Cahill said he has no intention of giving up on LiveSnip now that the event is over.

He came to Detroit in a car full of techies from Kalamazoo for Detroit's fourth Startup Weekend, an event launched by a Seattle nonprofit and now replicated all over the world that brings together developers, designers and thinkers to come up with business ideas, collaborate and compete against each other.

More than 100 participants gathered at the Madison Building Friday evening to pitch their ideas. Teams assembled around the approved ideas and raced against other groups to make the most progress from Friday night to Sunday midday.

Cahill arrived without a specific idea. Instead, he had a few problems that had been bothering him and that he wanted to solve. His last-minute pitch was one of 15 chosen from a field of 35, and he pulled together a team to work on it.

"It's a hustle," Cahill said. "You have to get people convinced that your idea is something they want to invest 54 hours in."

Cahill worked on the program with his newfound colleagues -- Carl Winans, Christina El-Haddad and Delane Parnell -- until 11 p.m. Friday at the Madison Building and then moved to the Detroit Beer Co. until closing. The next morning the team gathered again at the Madison.

The result was LiveSnip, a web service that solves a problem most readers will recognize: the inefficiency of having too many open tabs in an Internet browser and too many websites to repeatedly check. It's a dashboard that lets users pin snippets of information from other sites, like traffic stats or a Twitter feed, to one page, where the info then updates in real time. Under Cahill's plan, the program would offer free and premium subscriptions, the premium version costing $9 a month and geared to businesses that want to share information.

On Sunday, LiveSnip was chosen as the winner of Startup Weekend by five judges from Michigan's business community -- Maria LaLonde from Bizdom U, Jim Xiao from Detroit Venture Partners, Dan Izzo from Fathead, Jonathon Triest from Ludlow Ventures and Steven Robert from Billhighway. The judges listened to the contestants' short presentations and asked probing questions, making their final decision based on project execution, research into and feedback from potential customers, and overall business model.

In addition to a tour of the Madison Building, Cahill's team won a one-hour business model consulting session with business incubator Bizdom U, a one-hour meeting with venture capitalists Ludlow Ventures and tickets to the Michigan Lean Startup Conference in May.

"There's an amazing feeling that comes from finishing a little bit of code or solving a problem that's never been solved before," Cahill said. "When something works and ... you throw it out to the world and people use it -- it's what I live for when I'm writing code."

LiveSnip isn't Cahill's first business idea; he's been writing code since he was 13 years old. One of the first programs he ever wrote, sometime around 2002, translated the Mayan calendar into the Gregorian system.

Born in California, Cahill grew up in Guatemala and speaks English, Spanish and the Mayan language Q'eqchi' as well as computer programming languages. With no Internet access in his childhood home, he would write code until he encountered a problem and then walk a half-mile to an Internet cafe to search Google for solutions.

Cahill ended up in Michigan with a scholarship to attend Calvin College in Grand Rapids, but the self-taught developer realized in his first year that he wasn't learning enough. Now he goes to Startup Weekends -- he will attend Lansing's event next weekend -- and works on his problem-solving projects, from a simple event-planning calendar app to a crowd-funded college scholarship site.

Many of the other Startup Weekend Detroit contestants seemed to work on problems with personal significance. One created Calls On Fire, a tracking and motivational mobile app for direct sales professionals who make calls all day long. Another proposal, turnDetroit, tackles land development and community building with crowd-sourced funding.

Then there were the whimsical, sometimes zany ideas, two of which took second and third place. Ghost in a Box is a sort of newfangled Pet Rock, and CaptionSIX turns photo caption contests into a social network.

Charlie Wollborg, a previous winner of Startup Weekend Detroit, split his time this weekend between Calls on Fire and CaptionSIX.

"This is a tailgate party for entrepreneurs," said Wollborg, founding partner at Curve Detroit, an advertising and design firm in Pontiac. "We open Red Bull, and we code."

He pointed to one hiccup in the Startup Weekend concept, illustrated by his own experience. Wollborg's idea, Detroit App Factory, won the last competition in 2010, but it hasn't gone anywhere since. Wollborg said time and money have been the restraining factors.

"What we had was a really nice PowerPoint [presentation], and some cool [game] characters, but we didn't have a business," he said. "A lot of people hit Sunday night and they go back to their lives, their families, their jobs ... a lot of things never go beyond Startup Weekend."

Wollborg suggested the events could be more effective if some kind of check-ins with and support for the winners continued after the first 54 hours.

Startup Weekend Detroit organizer Brandon Chesnutt agreed with Wollborg's critique and said the nonprofit is considering ways to push the developers' ideas beyond the weekend competition. A fifth Startup Weekend Detroit isn't scheduled yet, although Chesnutt said it could come as early as June.

Cahill, Chesnutt and Wollborg all said the event is as much about meeting people and making connections as advancing the business ideas themselves.

Wollborg described "a certain type of person" who comes to Startup Weekends. "Everyone in that room is so screwed up they gave up a whole weekend to keep working," he said. "When you put thinkers and doers together in a room, great things happen ... that's really energizing to be around."

Small Businesses On Spending High

2012-02-22T17:36:45Z

The proportion of small businesses planning to increase their capital spending in the next 12 months is at its highest rate in four years, according to a new Gallup poll.

Twenty-eight percent of small businesses plan to increase spending, while 23 percent plan to cut back, the biggest gap in positive percentage points since 2008. While many have plans to spend in the future, 24 percent of owners said they have already increased their spending in the last 12 months, up from 19 percent in October 2011. The number of owners who said they decreased capital spending has dropped eight percentage points from 43 percent in October.

The positive outlook on capital stretches to lending, as 27 percent of small-business owners felt it would be somewhat or very easy to obtain credit in the next 12 months. While 38 percent of owners still feel it may be difficult to obtain credit, the number has dropped from 43 percent since last year.

"The increase in U.S. small-business owners' capital spending expectations is consistent with their optimistic hiring intentions and with the high level of overall economic confidence," Dennis Jacobe, Gallup's chief economist and poll author, wrote of the findings. "It is also good news for the U.S. economy when small-business owners spend and invest more in their physical and human capital."

Post-Grateful Dead Player Scores Medical Hit

2012-02-22T17:30:58Z

(By Deborah L. Cohen - Reuters) - For Jeff Chimenti, a rock keyboardist who plays with offshoots of the Grateful Dead, it has been anything but a "long strange trip" getting his medical product to market.

Chimenti's resume includes stints with Furthur - the band founded by former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh - as well as Weir's band, RatDog, and the Dead - the band that evolved from the surviving members of the Grateful Dead after Jerry Garcia's death in 1995.

The musician never planned to invent a device to help people suffering from sleep apnea, but stranger things have happened in the world of rock 'n roll.

When Chimenti's mother faced a medical setback a few years ago, he did not stand by idly like a blissed-out Deadhead in the front row of a concert.

Instead, he plunged in with bare-bones ingenuity and relentless drive to tackle the problem. It paid off.

Less than two years later, the solution he and two friends developed to prevent abrasions from a breathing mask used to treat his mother's sleep apnea morphed into a full-scale commercial venture. Their product, originally dubbed the Sleep Comfort Care Pad, has helped thousands treated for the condition, which is characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing.

It was 2007, and Chimenti's mother, who had been hospitalized, was suffering from severe facial cuts and bruises caused by the mask attached to the ventilation machine used to pump air into her breathing passages. Her doctors tried every available solution but nothing seemed to work, so Chimenti set out to create a fix.

"I just took it upon myself to say, 'Let me see what I can help out with,'" he said. "Basically I just started trying anything over the counter, Band-Aids to whatever different kinds of padding."

He then turned to a proven go-to guy, A.J. Santella, the band's high-tech roadie and his close personal friend. Within hours, Santella had fashioned a makeshift solution from an unlikely source in the studio: a tacky gel used to dampen the vibration on drumheads. The nonabrasive goo was placed between Chimenti's mother's mask and her skin. The quick fix wowed the medical staff at the hospital, who encouraged Chimenti to market the product.

DOCTOR DEADHEADS

He agreed. According to the National Institutes of Health, millions of American adults have obstructive sleep apnea, with one in 10 people over the age of 65 affected by the condition.

Knowing little about entrepreneurship and even less about how to bring a grassroots invention to the commercial market, Chimenti relied on another friend, New Jersey real estate developer and lifelong Deadhead Billy Procida. Procida had a seemingly endless Rolodex.

"One phone call," said Procida, recalling his connection to a former high school buddy in the medical products business, who helped put the team in touch with a manufacturer of medical grade, FDA-approved gel.

Once the wheels were spinning, there was no turning back. Procida worked his network, creating opportunities when necessary. At the first trade show he attended, he crashed someone's unattended booth to promote the new product. He did whatever it took, even volunteering the musicians to provide entertainment.

"The number of doctor Deadheads we encountered and the number of people who helped us is extraordinary," said Procida, who takes pride in his own moxie.

Chimenti and Santella, whose venture was originally dubbed Chi-San - a combination of their names - even created a low-budget video to promote the pads, with Chimenti acting as patient and Santella wearing a borrowed lab coat to play the role of physician.

All the while, RatDog continued touring with a full concert schedule. Chimenti and Santella managed to keep momentum for the medical business going, hosting regular conference calls on the road and using their downtime wisely.

"I think our naivete helped," said Santella, who sometimes fashioned retooled versions of the pads in the van between sets. "We didn't try to go down regular avenues. We asked questions of people that maybe we shouldn't have approached. There were no fences, no walls."

FAST TRACK

The team - whose project was fueled by more than $100,000 of Chimenti's own money - also brought on a fourth player, Ron Richard, a medical products executive whose company, SeQual Technologies, took the pads into distribution.

Richard, whose firm specializes in breathing equipment, knew the ins and outs of the sleep products industry, and he helped with everything from packaging to advertising.

"When I first looked at it, I thought, 'This is so simple, why didn't I come up with it?'" said Richard, who became an owner in the company. "There are products that are as competitive ... but not as simple or as good."

Realizing they needed a bigger fish to manage the product's continued growth, the founders began courting would-be partners, eventually finding a suitable exit with ResMed, a developer of sleep disorder breathing equipment. They are reluctant to provide a dollar amount, but Procida concedes San Diego-based ResMed purchased the technology in December 2010 for an amount pegged "in the seven figures."

The product, known today as the Gecko nasal pad, is now sold globally for about $25.

Chimenti invested his proceeds with Procida's private equity fund, a venture focused on turning around distressed real estate assets.

"His stuff has done quite well in the tough economy," Chimenti said.

Money aside, he said the best part was creating a legacy to honor the memory of his mother, who died from a long illness.

"Throughout it just seemed like the stars were lining up," he said, adding: "It was a homespun thing that fit a need and we were really proud of it. It was really in tribute to my mom."

(Editing By Lauren Young and Matthew Lewis)

Catholic Universities Sue Feds

2012-02-22T16:09:07Z

Four colleges have filed lawsuits against the federal government over the new policy by the Obama administration mandating that employees of religious institutions have access to contraception free of charge.

Ave Maria University in Florida, Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina and Colorado Christian University have each filed lawsuits, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. A fourth school, Geneva College, filed a lawsuit with the aid of the Alliance Defense Fund.

A controversy erupted after the announcement by the Obama administration that employers would be required to provide birth control without co-pays. There were 18 Catholic colleges and groups that petitioned the administration to repeal its decision.

To accommodate religious institutions, President Obama announced a compromise on Feb. 10 that requires the insurer -- rather than the employer -- to provide contraceptive coverage free of charge for women employed by the entities in question.

The compromise is tailored toward religious institutions such as Catholic hospitals who have to cover their employees' health care coverage, and colleges that offer health care coverage for students. The policy already exempted churches.

But the lawsuits contend that's not good enough for them, as the universities claim having to cover their employees -- who may or may not be religious -- violates their teaching that birth control is immoral.

"Allowing a U.S. president of any political party or religious affiliation to force conformance to his or her religious or secular orthodoxy through executive action, is a perilous precedent," Ave Maria president Jim Towey said in a statement.

"The state shouldn't punish people of faith for making decisions in accordance with their faith," ADF Senior Counsel Gregory S. Baylor said in a statement. "Every American should know that a government with the power to do this to anyone can do this -- and worse -- to everyone."

However, there are many students at Catholic universities who have been supportive of the decision to cover birth control.

"I'm paying $50,000 a year to go to college," Callie Otto, a student at Catholic University of America, told The Huffington Post recently, "I think that I should be able to get birth control with that $50,000."

The Obama administration wants coverage for contraception as preventive care. Birth control is not just used to avoid getting pregnant, it is also frequently used to protect women from developing ovarian cysts or getting cervical cancer.

Polling also shows 68 percent of sexually active Catholic women have used birth control at some point in their lifetime.

The Becket Fund is also representing the Eternal Word Television Network, in a lawsuit filed just before Obama announced the compromise.

CORRECTION:Following multiple media reports, a previous version of this article cited the statistic that 98 percent of Catholic women had used some form of artificial birth control. The researchers who produced that study have clarified their findings and this article has been revised.

Women Restaurateurs Taking Back The Kitchen

2012-02-22T15:00:00Z

It's no secret that the New York City's restaurant industry is a veritable old boys' club, bubbling over disproportionately with moneyed male entrepreneurs. Despite male-owned small businesses outnumbering female-owned small businesses almost 2 to 1, a figure especially magnified in the restaurant sector, a handful of enterprising New York women are giving the Mario Batalis and Danny Meyerses of the world a run for their money.

Nicole Ponseca, owner of Maharlika in the East Village, Anita Lo, owner and chef of the award-winning Annisa in the West Village, and Jennifer Sant'anna Hill, owner and chef of 508 GastroBrewery in Soho, are just three of a growing collective of women who have established highly successful and lucrative restaurant businesses in the Big Apple despite the odds.

In fact, according to these women, it was these odds that inspired them to double their efforts and build game-changing establishments in one of the world's most competitive culinary industry, adopting a fierce "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality.

"Seriously, what industry is not male-dominated?" says Ponseca, 35. "I was never part of the boys' club, but a woman in business has two choices -- take it personally and let it take you down, or take it in stride and keep moving, no matter what. Women entrepreneurs like Paula Deen, Alice Waters, Lidia Bastianach have made tremendous strides and inspire me to work harder, do more."

Ponseca, who describes herself as the "founder, owner, director, server and dishwasher" of the perenially packed Maharlika, credits her restaurant's success to meeting the demand for a largely untapped market -- authentic, upscale Filipino cuisine in New York -- and working harder than anyone else to do it right. Even if this meant working two jobs, trekking across the Philippines to learn the cuisine from an artisanal perspective and spending countless hours studying the existing Filipino restaurants across the United States -- all the while being advised that she should simply "settle down and find a nice man."

Despite the naysayers, Ponseca persevered. Although Maharlika no longer monopolizes the Filipino restaurant scene, Ponseca's restaurant is arguably the city's most popular Filipino eatery and bar, with rave reviews from The New York Times and other publications.

Similarly, award-winning restaurant Annisa (which means "women" in Arabic), has helped to reinvigorate and redefine Noveau American cuisine thanks to Lo's passion and creativity.

The 45-year-old is considered by many as one of the pioneer female entrepreneurs in the restaurant industry and as one of New York's most powerful women. With numerous accolades under her belt, including the title of "Best Chef" by Food & Wine and The Village Voice, winning the Iron Chef in 2005 after defeating none other than Mario Batali, plus founding two restaurants (including Rickshaw Dumpling Bar, which she left in 2010 to focus on running Annisa), Lo has proven that women in the industry are not just excellent in the kitchen, but are strong businesswomen.

But Lo's success hasn't come without its difficulties. Having worked in establishments in both Paris and New York, she admits that a male-dominated fine dining industry, both locally and globally, can sometimes be disheartening.

"This was what I wanted and needed to do, so I stuck with it," Lo says. "But in some kitchens, it was very isolating being the only woman."

The uphill battle doesn't start or end in the kitchen, either. Women entrepreneurs can struggle even on a basic funding level. Not only are women often more reluctant than men to apply for loans for "fear of rejection," but even upon application, it has proven to be more difficult for women to obtain financial backing for their small businesses from investors. This could potentially be linked to the discrimination and judgment women are subjected to due to their perceived role as "primary caretakers," according to a report conducted by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, which focused mainly on the fine dining sector of the industry.

Although women currently own only 26 percent of all restaurant businesses in the United States, according to the National Restaurant Association, times are changing, says Diane L. Tomb, president of the National Association of Women Business Owners.

"Yes, there is gender discrimination in the restaurant industry -- and other industries like construction, advertising, media buying, pharmaceutical -- the list goes on," Tomb says. "But it's getting better than it used to be and it will continue to get better. What's great these days is that there's much more support and resources available to help women entrepreneurs in the restaurant industry than ever before."

NAWBO, for example, is an organization that supports women business owners with mentor access, funding advice, networking opportunities and advocation for women's issues on a national level. The association currently has over 7,000 members across the country -- all of whom are women business owners. Similarly, the New York Women's Culinary Alliance was established specifically to support local female restaurateurs through networking events and education. The Alliance currently boasts over 200 members.

"With all of these resources, support systems and opportunities offered, I encourage women in any industry to just go for it," Tomb says. "There's no better time in America's history to be a female entrepreneur."

Her sentiments are echoed by Jennifer Sant'anna Hill, whose generally positive experiences as a restaurateur and chef (she received her formal training at Mario Batali's Lupa and Del Posto under the tutelage of both male and female chefs) led her to open her own establishment in the Carribean, and then later, the popular 508 GastroBrewery in New York with her husband, Anderson.

"During my externship [at Lupa], I was trained by all female sous chefs, who at the time worked under Mark Ladner," says Hill, 36. "It might have just been that way randomly, or maybe it's still that way, but I really loved it -- they were so skilled and really took the time out to teach me things."

"At 508, we get a majority of female externs and I assume it's because they would like to work with a female chef as well."

Although Sant'anna Hill, like Ponseca and Lo, has suffered her fair share of woe working in a male-dominated industry -- "old-timer purveyors sometimes asked for the chef, and were somewhat sarcastic when they saw me," she recalls -- her experience juggling her role as a restaurateur, chef, and most importantly wife and mother to the 16-month-old Neve, has been ultimately very rewarding.

Although Lo admits she's been unable to find that balance in her career, the Top Chef said she also feels enormously fulfilled in running Annisa, and encourages other women to be just as driven.

"Don't settle," Lo says. "Follow your passion and stick to it. Ultimately, we are in the business of making people happy. That is a great reward."

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over: The Artist Inside Her (PHOTOS)

2012-02-22T12:29:00Z

One of the reasons I started my website, Marlothomas.com, is that I wanted a place for women (including me!) to come together and dream. Women should know that they don't have to hang on to an old dream that has stopped nurturing them -- that there is always time to start a new dream. This week's story is about how one woman quit her day job and embraced her junk mail to make beautiful works of art! -- MT

By Lori Weiss

As Sandhi Schimmel Gold spent a leisurely day off, painting in the art studio she'd set up behind her home, the music playing in the background suddenly seemed to take over the room. "Jon Bon Jovi came on," Sandhi recalls, "and it was as if his words were meant for me to hear that morning. The refrain began 'It's my life. It's now or never. I ain't gonna live forever.' That was the moment I put down my brush, walked inside and said, 'I’m done.'"

From that day forward, Sandhi decided that she was finished with everything that had held her back from becoming the artist she was meant to be. So with no trust fund, no golden parachute -- but a need that had been growing inside her for 50 years -- Sandhi left her stable job as the chief information officer of an Arizona food bank and followed her heart.

"When I was a little girl I was always drawing," Sandhi explains. "There was never a question in my mind that I would do something art-related. I graduated in 1972, just as the woman's movement was underway. I wanted a career, but the messages I was getting at home were very different. My parents sent me to college, but they thought I should become a nurse or a teacher, just so I'd have something to do until I got married and had kids."

Sandhi ended up with an undergraduate degree in psychology, but soon found herself floundering. Eventually she took a job in retail, and ultimately discovered a creative niche, one that allowed her to start her own business: designing store displays and sets for special events.

And then, she did what she was supposed to do: She got married.

It wasn't that Sandhi didn't want to be a wife or start a family; but the pressure she felt to follow a particular path led her to the wrong man -- one who thought the artwork she created in her spare time was a waste of space. Within six years, he left her a single mom, just after she'd finished putting him through law school.

"One of us had to have a real job with benefits while he was in school," Sandhi says, with a shrug of her shoulders. "So I gave up my business, thinking I'd get back to it in a few years, and took a more secure job in the non-profit sector. I never thought I'd end up being the sole breadwinner. But I had a little girl to think about, so I did the responsible thing. I worked my way up the corporate ladder."

But as that little girl grew up and prepared to enter art school herself, Sandhi found herself spending more and more time in the art studio she'd always made room for, no matter where she'd lived. She was remarried now, but this time, her spouse was her biggest fan.

"Norm thought everything I did was fabulous and saw how much joy my art brought me," she says with a smile. "And he encouraged me to put 100 percent of my efforts into what I loved. He was actually the one who had been trying to convince me to quit my day job."

So with that Bon Jovi song as her anthem, Sandhi decided to take back her life. She traded in her suits and heels for the p.j.s she wears every day in her studio, then perfected a craft that would soon become her signature style: creating mosaic portraits that begin with Warhol-like drawings, and then -- in what can take up to hundreds of hours -- come to life with paint and tiny pieces of recycled paper.

"People say, 'What is that, just paper?'" she laughs. And I say, 'Yes. And what is the Mona Lisa? It's just paint!'"

But those hours Sandhi spends in the studio don't come without compromise. Long gone are the trips to the salon she used to look forward to, and the expensive dinners out she used to enjoy. She's replaced her car with a van, and now the romantic vacations she takes with her husband usually revolve around art fairs, rather than art-filled trips to Europe.

But, career-wise, those art fairs have paid off.

"I remember my first fair. People would walk by and their mouths would drop open, and I'd think, 'Oh, they hate it! But then they started pulling out their credit cards. They'd say 'I'll take it!' and I'd actually respond, out loud, 'You will?'"

It was at one of those early art fairs that Sandhi's work caught the eye of a woman who would put her in the spotlight -- a Beverly Hills gallery owner with a celebrity clientele. Before long, she was getting requests for custom pieces, and soon found herself on "Access Hollywood," presenting mosaic portraits to hosts Billy Bush and Nancy O'Dell. And now, at 57, her work is in galleries across the country.

That's not to say that any of this was easy, nor that Sandhi was an overnight sensation. She works seven days a week creating her art, as well as doing her own marketing and public relations -- even her own packing and shipping. And she credits her first 30 years in the working world, when she wasn't able to pursue her passion, for the success she's currently experiencing.

"All the different things I've done in my life got me to where I am now. I learned about marketing and public relations through those other jobs. There are things that I do in my art that I learned from being a display artist. I wouldn't have had those things in my toolbox if this had happened any earlier."

And as she puts the final touches on a portrait she's about to ship, she says softly, "George Sands, the French novelist, once said 'It's never too late to be what you might have been.'"

Sandy Schimmel’s collection is available for purchase at galleries around the country at Schimmelart.com.

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The End Of 'Small Business' As We Know It?

2012-02-21T23:30:00Z

In an effort to boost access to federal contracts and financial assistance, the Small Business Administration recently changed its definition of "small business" in a variety of industries for the first time in about 25 years.

Small-business advocates, however, aren't yet sure if or how the move will affect small businesses' ability to get federal government contracts. The SBA released 37 updated revenue-based size definitions of small businesses in 34 professional, scientific and technical services sectors, after starting work on the definitions in 2007. The new size standards take effect March 12.

The SBA took into account factors such as inflation and current economic conditions, as well as federal contracting trends, average firm size and degree of competition within the individual industries, and was motivated to make the changes by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which requires the SBA to continue a comprehensive review of size standards for the next several years, according to an SBA spokesperson.

The SBA, which negotiates small-business contracting goals with various federal agencies, estimates the new definitions will make as many as 8,350 more firms eligible for contracts and financial assistance. "It allows small businesses to retain their small-business status and contracting officers to have a larger selection of small businesses to choose from for contracting opportunities," the spokesperson said.

But the National Small Business Association isn't so sure these changes will be beneficial to small businesses. Although the NSBA is planning a thorough analysis, the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group cited "a couple areas of concern," NSBA spokesperson Molly Brogan said. "Some industries, such as architecture and engineering, are grouped together, and the combination can cause some issues. Another concern is there may be enhanced competition from businesses on the larger end of the scale that are now classified as a small business. For the majority of businesses that have about nine to 11 employees, it's hard to compete against a company that has 500 employees."

While the National Federation of Independent Business, a Nashville, Tenn.-based advocacy group, doesn't define small business by size, about 70 percent of its members have 10 or fewer employees, according to NFIB spokesperson Cynthia Magnuson. Still, Magnuson said government contracts aren't necessarily what will help their small-business members. "We represent 350,000 small businesses and not a tremendous number of them vie for government contracts," Magnuson said. "Our top priorities tend to be things that affect our whole membership, like taxes, health care and regulation."

By contrast, Brogan of NSBA said leveling the playing field for small-business contracts is one of its members longtime concerns. "Our board has revised our top priority issues for 2012, and contracting is among those," Magnuson said. "Ensuring small businesses do have an equal opportunity through small business set-asides is a big issue."

This definition of small businesses in relation to federal contracts is also being addressed by the House Small Business Committee. The Protect American Small Businesses Act, introduced by Reps. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), would require that the size standard be assigned by each group's North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. "My bill ensures that small businesses do not have to compete with global corporations to create jobs in our local communities," Walsh said in a statement. "Size standards assure the viability of America's biggest job creators -- small businesses."

The End Of Our Food Truck Revolution?

2012-02-21T20:14:20Z

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Even though House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi recently called food trucks "a model for small business innovation," other California legislators are considerably less bullish on the whole phenomenon.

Last week, Carmel Assemblyman Bill Monning introduced a bill prohibiting food trucks from selling food within 1,500 feet of an elementary or secondary school between the hours of 6am and 6pm.

Monning's bill is intended to be part of the state's effort to create a healthier eating environment for its school children. Some educators feel that a whole slew of newly implemented programs--such as LAUSD's new, district-wide healthy lunch menu or Santa Barbara's revolutionary s'Cool Food initiative--are being undermined by the presence of nearby food trucks slinging significantly less healthy options.

"We serve fruits and vegetables every single day; we're mandated to," California School Nutrition Association Spokesperson Rene Yamashiro told KABC Los Angeles. "We have limits on how much fat our meals can have, how much sodium, how much sugar. When there's a food truck right outside the school, they do not have to follow any of these national standards."

"Mobile food vending poses a threat to student safety as well as student nutrition," wrote Monning in a statement to the Sacramento Bee. "Mobile vending near school campuses incentivizes students to leave school grounds, which increases students' exposure to off-campus hazards such as heavily trafficked streets."

In his daily The Nooner email newsletter for Sacramento politics blog Around the Capital, author Scott Lay wryly noted:

The bill is only modestly more lenient than California's Proposition 83 "Jessica's Law," which prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. Judges have ruled portions of the law unconstitutional, because of the inability of offenders to find any reasonable place to live.

A similar problem could end up affecting food trucks in tightly-packed urban areas where the dense population of schools could end up leaving relatively few spaces for food trucks to squeeze into and legally sell delicious Korean tacos.

This map of Sacramento shows all the areas where food trucks would be prohibited under the new law.

How the law would apply in San Francisco, a city that's quickly become ground zero for the food truck revolution, is a little more unclear. "We don't know how it would affect us here," Off The Grid founder Matt Cohen told The Huffington Post, "and that's scary."

San Francisco already has an ordinance prohibiting food trucks from selling food within 1,500 feet of middle or high schools. Interestingly, food trucks are required to give the city's schools a significantly wider berth than medical marijuana dispensaries.

Cohen, whose organization brings pods of artisan food trucks to areas around the city, noted the local ordinance doesn't include elementary schools because elementary school students aren't allowed to go off campus anyway--rendering a ban on surrounding food trucks during school hours effectively moot.

The present restrictions only apply to streets and sidewalks. Under the language of the Assemblyman Monning's broadly written bill, the ban would extend to private property and other types of public space such as city parks, which is the only likely effect the law would have on San Francisco.

But critics are quick to renounce the measure. "I think it's selectively targeting one class of small businesses at the expense of others," said Cohen. "For example, it doesn't regulate liquor stores or fast food proximity."

The kids themselves also appear largely opposed to the ban. ABC-7 San Francisco spoke with a few:

"Going to the extent of banning food trucks would be extensive; if you want junk food, you can be able to get it," Kamron Sarhadi, a senior at Mountain View High School, said.
"Most kids have cars; if not, your friend has a car, you can just go and get junk food if you want to," Erica Fischer-Colbrie, another senior at Mountain View High School, said.

The ban would could also put an end to the increasing number of fundraisers California schools are organizing around food trucks.

Since last year, Los Angeles' Whitney High School has instituted a weekly fundraiser where over half a dozen trucks crowd into the parking lot give a portion of their proceeds to the school, which is using the money to build a new multi-media center.

A 2010 study conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the California Center for Public Health found 38 percent of California's fifth, seventh and ninth graders to be overweight or obese--a slight decrease from a similar study conducted in 2005.

Check out this video look at San Francisco's burgeoning food truck scene with Off The Grid:

Comcast To Start New Minority-Owned Cable Channels

2012-02-21T17:56:40Z

NEW YORK — Comcast will launch four minority-owned networks on its cable-TV systems in the next two years, including channels spearheaded by music mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and NBA great Magic Johnson.

Two of the networks are majority black-owned while two are majority American-Hispanic-owned, with all of them programming in English, the Philadelphia-based Comcast said.

It was unclear how much of an on-camera role, if any, Combs and Johnson might play on their respective network.

The new channels, which in all will total 10 rolling out in the next eight years, are part of an agreement reached by Comcast with the FCC and Department of Justice when it was allowed to become majority owner of NBCUniversal.

The networks announced Tuesday include:

_ Revolt, conceived by Combs and MTV veteran Andy Schuon, will have programming that includes music videos, live performances, music news and interviews.

"Revolt is the first channel created entirely from the ground up in this new era of social media," said Combs, who described the channel as "immediate, like today's social networks."

In a video posted on YouTube, Combs said Revolt will put artists in charge.

"It's your channel to do what you want to do, how you want to do it," he said, addressing them, with the result "uncut, raw, uncensored."

Revolt is scheduled to launch in 2013.

_ Aspire, to be led by Johnson in partnership with family-oriented channel GMC TV, will dedicate itself to enlightening and positive programming aimed at black families. It will air movies, documentaries, music and comedy, as well as faith and inspirational programs.

"Aspire will be a network that encourages and challenges African-Americans to reach for their dreams," said Johnson, adding that it "will celebrate our heritage, our groundbreaking achievements and the fearless talent that has shaped American culture."

It will launch this summer.

_ El Rey, proposed by Hollywood director Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures executives John Fogelman and Cristina Patwa, is designed to be an action-packed, general entertainment network for Latino and general audiences. The programming mix will include reality, scripted and animated series, and will feature Hispanic producers, celebrities and public figures.

"We are passionate about creating a wildly entertaining destination that we can be proud of by appealing to both Latino and mass market audiences," said Rodriguez, a successful filmmaker known for the "Spy Kids" films.

El Rey is scheduled to debut by January 2014.

_ BabyFirst Americas, from Spanish-language TV veteran Constantino "Said" Schwarz, is designed for infants and very young children, as well as their parents. It will emphasize the importance of early development of verbal, math and motor skills, the network said.

"BabyFirst Americas aims to bring the essential academic building blocks for kindergarten readiness into the home," Schwarz said.

The first of the networks to arrive, it is planned to be on the air this April.

These four networks, and the six others yet to be announced, are being chosen from more than 100 proposals, Comcast said. Each will be added as part of Comcast's digital basic tier of service.

The company, which is the nation's largest cable TV provider, did not mention in its announcement other cable systems planning to carry the new networks.

___

Online:

http://www.Comcast.com

Survey Says: Office Bullies Are Bad For Business

2012-02-21T16:45:00Z

Employees who experience workplace bullying could be suffering more than mentally, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Stress Management and reported by LiveScience. They could also end up with physical health problems -- ranging from obesity to heart disease -- that could shorten their lives and, in extreme cases, lead to suicide.

The survey found that around 14 percent of U.S. workers have an abusive boss, with abuse defined as engaging in behavior such as humiliating and insulting employees or isolating them from co-workers. While employees frequently deal with abusive situations by trying to avoid their bosses or getting support from co-workers, the study found these tactics actually backfire by making the employees feel more helpless.

Why it matters to your business: Bullying isn't "cute" or something to be laughed off. I've worked for several abusive bosses in my lifetime, and these actions can have serious consequences that could put your business at risk. If you see indications of bullying in your workplace, it needs to stop -- now. Don't try to write off bullying managers as "tough bosses," laugh off the problem or urge employees to "deal with it." And if your employees have ever given you any indication that your behavior may be over the top, it's time to listen.

Ex-Googlers Develop Turbo-Charged 'Email' System

2012-02-21T16:38:51Z

Email has "stagnated" and three Australians who quit Google say they have built a product that will change the way we interact with email and allow us to get through our bulging inboxes "20 per cent faster".