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Lemonade
Stories
Review
Lemonade
Stories may be the most inspirational documentary
I have ever watched. Filmmaker Mary Mazzio has
cleverly and uniquely interviewed some of the
world's leading business people (and their mothers),
in a fashion that warms the heart.
For
me the highlight of Lemonade Stories was Mary
capturing the charisma, energy, attitude and overall
package that is Richard Branson (and his mother,
Eve). What a powerful, interesting and educational
individual and collective story. Wow, and wow
again.
If
your looking for a pick me up, a kick along in
your business endeavors, or a bit of escapism,
via getting into the mind of the world's most
successful business people, with a personable
touch and genuine warmth seldom found in business
related documentaries, Lemonade Stories is for
you. (Greg Tingle, Media Man Australia).
Article
Billionaires
give Mom the credit
(Credit:
Forbes - MSN)
Those
entrepreneurial instincts are formed in the nursery
-- at least that's the theory behind the new billionaire-profiling
film 'Lemonade Stories.'
By
Dan Ackman, Forbes
The
study of entrepreneurship in business schools
is all the rage, but a new film released suggests
that business school may be too late. The nursery
is where it's at.
"Lemonade
Stories," a film focusing on how mothers
have contributed to the entrepreneurial spirit
of their sons and daughters, suggests that much
of what entrepreneurs need to know they learned
well before, perhaps from the hand that rocks
the cradle. Veteran film maker Mary Mazzio is
the writer, director and executive producer of
the film, which was funded by Babson College.
Entrepreneurs
taking after -- and inheriting from -- their go-getting
fathers is hardly news: Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch
and Donald Trump are just three examples of this
phenomenon. But "Lemonade Stories" highlights
the fact that sometimes it's a mother's touch
that fuels the business-building spirit. While
men have long blamed their mothers for failures
in their personal lives, the film gives solace
to those who would blame them for their business
shortcomings as well.
The
film focuses on The Virgin Group's Richard
Branson, Def Jam's Russell Simmons, Home Depot
(HD, news, msgs) co-founder Arthur Blank and USA
Networks founder Kay Koplovitz, among others.
In
the film, Branson says he learned to take risks
from his mother, Eve, a pilot during World War
II. Blank relates how his mother, a widow with
a young child, could successfully run her own
business.
"What
is fascinating is that many of the mothers featured
in the film were raised at a time when women were
not expected to work. Yet all of these women were
risk-takers and encouraged their children to take
risks to achieve their dreams," says Mary
Mazzio, film director. "These moms also stood
by their children later in life, in moments of
failure and times of crisis. Richard Branson and
Russell Simmons both claim they would have gone
out of business, but for last-minute loans from
their mothers, who stepped up when no one else
did."
Women
drummed out
The number of chairs and professorships in entrepreneurship
and related fields grew 71% in the last four years,
from 237 in 1999 to 406 in 2003, according to
the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas
City-based organization devoted to the study and
promotion of entrepreneurship. Babson College
itself is at the forefront of this trend with
its Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship
and recently created Institute for Family Enterprising,
which emphasizes second-generation entrepreneurs.
But
the nurturing female hand, meanwhile, is being
drummed out of the formal side of the business-building
business. Women represent less than 10% of high-level
venture capitalists, and they have been leaving
the industry at twice the rate of men, according
to a recent Kauffman study.
The
same study says that women led 28% of all U.S.
businesses in 2002, employing more than 10 million
and generating $1.5 trillion in sales. Yet female
entrepreneurs historically have received a disproportionately
low share of available venture capital, as little
as 4% to 9%.
"The
venture capital industry is among the last bastions
of male dominance in the business world,"
says Carl Schramm, president and chief executive
of the Kauffman Foundation, noting that the current
picture for female venture capitalists is similar
to that for female attorneys in 1985, when women
made up only 13% of the legal profession, compared
to nearly 30% today.
Other
viewpoints
But if still another Kauffman study is to be credited,
the absence of women in the venture capital business
may not be all that critical. The majority of
startups are not started by venture capital, but
by friends and family. According to the Global
Entrepreneurship Monitor, a study of worldwide
entrepreneurship released early this year, informal
investors funded 99.96% of all businesses around
the world and supplied 90% of the total amount
invested. Fewer than 37 out of every 100,000 startups
received venture capital money. Only in the United
States did venture capital play a major role in
new business funding, with U.S. companies attracting
80% of the money venture capital firms invested
worldwide.
The
global study also suggests that entrepreneurship
is affected more by broad societal factors such
as attitudes about risk and the prevalence of
social safety nets. That the United States has
such a disproportionate share of venture capitalists
may be more of an effect than a cause of entrepreneurship
here.
Of
course, the formal venture capital money gets
most of the press notice, and no one has yet endowed
a chair in entrepreneurship at the grade school
level. "Lemonade Stories" suggests that
doing so might not be such a bad idea.
Profiles
50
Eggs
Mary
Mazzio
Richard
Branson
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