Ms Entrepreneur, a multi-media project comprising an annual magazine, a TV and podcast series and a website, was launched today at an industry event held in Sydney, at the Park Hyatt Hotel.

The project was launched by Switzer Group’s Director and Ms Entrepreneur Group Publisher, Maureen Jordan, together with The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, Minister for Housing and the Minister for the Status of Women.

Minister Plibersek, speaking at the launch event today, discussed the importance of encouraging women to realise their business dreams and help shape entrepreneurship in Australia, as well as the Government’s support for initiatives such as Ms Entrepreneur.

Although Ms Entrepreneur isn’t the first website to feature the stories of female entrepreneurs, Australian Women Online has been featuring these stories for the past six months, the Ms Entrepreneur initiative is the first multi-media project to be undertaken in Australia.

At the event today, the Ms Entrepreneur team launched their flagship magazine and global website.  Ms Entrepreneur Magazine is a 108-page, glossy annual publication that presents 13 Australian women business leaders in upfront, in-depth case studies focusing on the real issues facing female entrepreneurs.

The Ms. Enterpreneur website brings original content from the magazine, as well as case studies, vodcasts and podcasts of successful female entrepreneurs in the US and the UK.

The Ms Entrepreneur team also announced a partnership with Qantas, which will screen the Ms Entrepreneur TV series on domestic and international flights during 2008.

“Ms Entrepreneur tells inspirational stories from Australian women living their dreams. We’ve fortified their lessons with articles and discussions on leadership, innovation, money management and much more. We hope to build a sky scraper full of much needed female role models to encourage future generations of women to develop their powerful female traits – to be confident leaders proud of who they are and what they have to contribute to business,” said Maureen Jordan, Ms Entrepreneur Group Publisher and Switzer Group Director.

Prior to the launch, Ms Entrepreneur conducted a national survey of 3,000 small business owners to look at how entrepreneurship is understood in Australia. The key findings revealed that while Australians generally associate the word “entrepreneur” with a self-employed or self-made business person, three times as many associated the description with businessmen rather than businesswomen.

Also speaking at today’s launch were Carla Zampatti, Rachel Grisewood, and Mary Nenke, representing three Australian women who are profiled in the Ms Entrepreneur TV program and the website.

Ms Entrepreneur has partnered with several corporate and industry bodies to sponsor the new initiative. These include: The Australian Government Office for Women (OfW), Hyatt International, HP, Text 100 Global Public Relations, Optus, Commonwealth Bank, CPA Australia, IP Australia, Lexus and NIDA. The Ms Entrepreneur team says they are interested in speaking with other local and international companies and industry groups about potential partnerships across its media properties.

As the editor of Australian Women Online, I am pleased to see another website dedicated to promoting women in business and the growth of female entrepreneurship in Australia.  We have profiled many women in business on this website and it is my hope we can work with Ms Entrepreneur to inspire more women to realise their dreams of business ownership.