Oklahoma Business Woman Teams with Saudi PhD Candidate for Glasgow ISBE Conference

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Oklahoma City, OK (PRWEB) November 27, 2007 -- Debra Murray, President of Blue Spring International, Oklahoma-based provider of pure and natural products to promote balanced health and wellness, and Naeema Farooqi, lecturer in Business Studies Program at Dar Al-Hekma College in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, presented a paper at the 30th Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) Conference held Nov. 7-9 in Glasgow, Scotland. There were over 600 delegates from some 40 countries in attendance.

Murray and Farooqi met in June 2007, when four members of Women President's Organization (WPO) went to Saudi Arabia's Dar Al-Hekma College to conduct a training program for Saudi women entrepreneurs. The visiting American women entrepreneurs owned and operated their own million dollar plus businesses and had extensive personal experience. Naeema Farooqi was the local consultant for the Marketing module and co-trained with Debra Murray. The discussions during the workshops led to a joint study carried out with research, titled Surprising Similarities: American and Saudi Women Entrepreneurs.

Initially, the authors held the premise that due to vast cultural and professional differences, there would be little or no similarities between the two groups. However, research proved otherwise, when several similarities were established, which are the focal point of this presentation. Conclusions reached from the research state, "All entrepreneurs are challenged by the 'World being Flat' - having the same goods in America as in Saudi Arabia - mostly from China. Everyone is competing with what other emerging countries have to offer. This has created a glut of low priced goods internationally that all must compete with. The way businesses can stand apart, in Saudi Arabia and in America, is through excellent service to customers and those that depend on quality. Both Saudi and American businesses are challenged by how to differentiate themselves in a worldwide market - and this can be done by the uniqueness of their customer care."

The authors end the report by saying, "Female entrepreneurship, whether being studied and researched among Saudi or American women, as demonstrated and attempted in this paper, or indeed among women entrepreneurs from other countries, is found to be embedded in the social relations of ethnicity, gender, class, the family, finances, support system, encouragement, perception, etc. We conclude that female entrepreneurship is complex and multi-layered, and needs multiple measures and multi-dimensional approaches to understand fully its changing nature and dynamics derived from the cultural and multi-faced backgrounds."

Dar Al-Hekma College is a private, non-profit institution of higher education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia whose mission is to provide selected degree programs of the highest quality to academically qualified women. The College fosters creativity and emphasizes the important role in society of women as the first builders of the family and the first educators of the nation.

Blue Spring International is a comprehensive health and wellness company based in Oklahoma City, OK. With over 110 offerings, their product lines include nutrition and wellness, spa and salon, pain relief and muscle comfort, and pet products. Quality ingredients, outstanding customer service and guaranteed results all underscore Blue Spring's commitment to innovation and on-going improvements. Blue Spring's balanced health and wellness approach truly helps their customers 'rejuvenate, replenish, refresh and revive.' For additional information contact: Debra Murray at 405-879-5866 or dmurray@bluespringwellness.com or check our site http://www.bluespringwellness.com

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