When it comes to women in business, Australia is lagging behind the rest of the world. Oliver Millman compiled a list of the 10 up-and-coming female entrepreneurs who are currently making the biggest waves in the start-up world.
Entrepreneurs
Australia loses a great entrepreneur
A funny and fascinating post on Diana Gribble — publisher of Crikey — and her work as a successful businesswoman. Read Di’s spot-on advice for women wanting to get ahead in the business world.
Top start-ups from SXSW
Back in 2007 an obscure little start up called Twitter appeared at the South by Southwest interactive conference. Who’s next? Oliver Milman outlines the most exciting and promising businesses from this year’s crop.
The dirt on Method’s method
Slick product design balanced with environmental credentials seems a sure-fire way to business success these days. Cool US soap brand Method explains how it develops a new product.
Want to start a business? Pick the best industry
If you’re looking to start up a business in 2011, the biggest growth industries include fast food retailing and accounting. Avoid the printing or computer repair industries, growth options are far more limited.
great read 
The good and the bad of working from home
A glorious cartoon by The Oatmeal demonstrating the positives — not having to wake up early — and the negatives — losing all memory of personal hygiene — of not having to go into an office to work.
PHOTO GALLERY 
10 self-made CEOs
If the great American dream still exists, these are surely the people who are living it. Here is a collection of rich and powerful CEOs who started out with nix and ended up with millions.
Google, Fedex, Napster: not all uni students are lazy
University isn’t just for drinking and occasional study, according to many young entrepreneurs. Here’s a round-up of some darlings from the business world that got their big start during college.
Opening (closet) doors for your business 
What makes a company “cool”?
How do companies capture that elusive “cool” factor? Entrepreneurs and experts explain what separates the dorks from the dudes: personality, popularity, price competitiveness, problem solving and powerful friends.
Bacon: a crackling new market
Bacon: it’s the hottest thing since, uh, beef, and “bacon-trepreneurs” are cashing in with sizzling sales of products like bacon chocolate, bacon pancakes, bacon vodka and bacon wrapped in bacon.
Meet our top business ladies
From Kathmandu founder Jan Cameron to our first lady Therese Rein, Smart Company wraps the top female entrepreneurs in Australia, showing their earnings, background and business advice.
Never too old to be your own boss
The ‘older and wiser’ cliché has a lot of truth in it, with retirees being the biggest group of entrepreneurs in the business world. WSJ profiles the older entrepreneurs who realise their peers are their ideal target market.
How Avatar can help your business ideas
Entrepreneurs could learn a lot from James Cameron’s making of Avatar, writes Megan Berry. Like taking the time to plan an idea correctly (Cameron first wrote Avatar in ‘94) and throwing in a dash of controversy for good measure.
Who will be the next Bill Gates?
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sergey Brin or a bunch of rich Chinese guys you’ve probably never heard of: which young-gun tech tycoon will be the “next” Bill Gates? Forbes rounds up the contenders.
From the kitchen to Asia: a fresh-faced take on business
One mistake can hit a young small business hard, as organic skincare business Lily loves Pearl learnt when its first lot of products, worth $10,000, was destroyed on arrival. But that wasn’t enough to turn entrepreneur Samantha Molineux off the joys of running her own business.
From glass making to magazines: a classic Young Rich mix
An interview with entrepreneur Ash Hunter, owner of Just Magazines (Just Cars and Just Bikes) and Hunterfive, an investment company. How do you combine new media, publishing, manufacturing and property?
How Australia’s richest got their start
A look at how some of Australia’s richest businesspeople earned their first bucks: Frank Lowy drove trucks, Gerry Harvey sold vacuums door-to-door and Kerry Stokes picked grapes.
You can’t teach
entrepreneurship
Many successful entrepreneurs — Bill Gates, Richard Branson — never attended business school, yet plenty of programs still claim they can teach it. Is entrepreneurship in the blood? And, how can big businesses harness it?
Why every entrepreneur should clean poo
Every boss should be willing to clean the company toilet, says entrepreneur Sahil Merchant. If you aren’t willing to get your hands dirty, employees won’t follow you when the shit hits the fan.
Recycling an old idea: mixing business with charity
Combine smart business ideas with social causes and you’ve got one of the most significant global economic trends to emerge in the last 50 years. But what do social entrepreneurs need to succeed? A lot of dough.
The top entrepreneurs of the last 100 years
Focus looks at the greatest business minds of the last century, from innovator Thomas Edison to entertainer Oprah Winfrey.
How to sack people and stay sane
They may be seen as the baddies, but small business owners are often traumatised by the need to sack staff in a downturn. Fortune provides 5 tips, complete with wacky stock business photos.
graph pr0n 
Timeline: getting creative in a downturn
In a recession, things cost less, there’s less competition and ideas need to be finely honed to make money, which leads to great businesses explains Spencer Ante — with some help from a smashing timeline.
Why bother with altruism when capitalism will land you $36?
The glory of the free market is reaffirmed as private enterprise takes on the Free Hugs guy.
