Month: July 2024

Owned and operated by a dual military couple, Bailey’s Child Development and Learning Center started when the Bailey’s were facing difficulties finding reliable childcare while on active duty. Knowing they could not possibly be the only active military family dealing with this issue, the couple opened an at home childcare facility in 2013. Very quickly, three enrolled kids increased to 12 kids and the demand continued to grow, forcing Bailey’s CDC to implement a waiting list for other families who needed these services.

Bailey’s CDC provides curriculum to students in addition to training sessions for parents who need education support or information on childcare. Bailey’s CDC also provides jobs within the local community, expanding benefits and impact beyond the facility.

The Baileys identified this growing need for trustworthy and reputable childcare and were committed to providing this service. However, with no expertise in starting and running a small business, all of this was very new. They had to look for organizations that could provide them with all the knowledge and resources to properly operate and continue to grow the learning center.

Raphaela Bailey, part owner of Bailey’s CDC understands the fear and discomfort parents feel when placing their children in childcare. Raphaela understands the parents they service because she has been in their shoes. She recalls her time on active sea duty and how terrified she was to leave her babies. She has compassion for the parents leaving their kids in childcare and wants to create a safe environment where parents feel confident leaving their children.

With the demand for Bailey’s CDC increasing, the couple looked for ways to attract new employees while caring for their current staff. Through programs like the Shared Service Alliance, United Way, and Alamo Workforce, Bailey’s CDC was able to better understand the needs of the community.

As a recipient of a FedEx Small Business Grant, Bailey’s CDC can concentrate on efforts to invest more time in growing their business. The Baileys shared they plan to “take the center to the next level and become a Texas Rising Star-certified program,” a program that will help provide healthcare for teachers at the center.

With the grant funds, Bailey’s CDC will continue providing a much-needed space for children to learn and grow, parents to learn, and further engage local community members. Bailey’s CDC desires to contribute to their local economy and successfully set up the leaders of tomorrow for brighter futures.

Visit FedExCares.com for additional feature stories about the other 2024 Hiring Our Heroes Small Business Grant Program winners in the coming weeks.

Click here to learn about FedEx Cares, our global community engagement program.

By Sarah Hewitt, Director Strive Women, Women’s Entrepreneurship at CARE

In the corner of a vegetarian restaurant in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, three Vietnamese women sit around bowls of steaming noodles and dumplings, engrossed in discussion.

Despite the noise and chaos of the traffic outside, it’s peaceful in this small and cozy restaurant filled with potted plants. Sounds of conversation and laughter grow as the restaurant fills up with the lunch crowd.

The handmade menu tells the owner’s story. She opened the restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic with a desire to provide healthy, nourishing meals made from local ingredients. Like any small business, this owner would face multiple challenges and fierce competition (as she later tells me), but now, the restaurant is clearly thriving, and I wonder, what is the recipe for her success? What draws all these customers and me, a foreigner in Vietnam, time and again to this restaurant instead of the more familiar big chain names?

Is it just the papaya salad – really, the best I’ve ever eaten – or is it something else that only a small business has?

Building stronger communities

Around the world, small businesses are the hearts and souls of communities. Your local barber and corner stores offer more than just transactional interactions for essential products and services. They are places where people listen to your everyday problems and foster a sense of belonging. What’s more, there’s a one in three chance that these micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), like the one I’m lunching in today, will be led by women.

There are more women than ever in business today, yet most have only three-quarters of the legal rights that men have when it comes to career, finances, and work-life balance – this despite the fact that women-led businesses are vital not just for their reinvestment into household incomes and national economies, but also for their transformative power. The latest evidence on women-led businesses finds that they not only reduce poverty but that they also drive job creation, spark innovation, and contribute to safer, greener and more vibrant communities, ensuring that everyone thrives collectively. These women-led enterprises are regenerative forces – building business communities and hiring local workers. Local economies simply cannot succeed without them.

Dreaming inclusive growth into reality

“Women on their own face many obstacles. However, if we build a community of people who inspire us and support us, we can achieve so much…. We can do things together that we could never accomplish alone,” says Violeta Pacheco Mejía an entrepreneur in Lima, Peru.

Her eco-friendly alpaca and cotton clothing company, Tejidos Peruanos, is based in Villa El Salvador, a historically disadvantaged neighborhood in Lima.  Her business has a reputation for being a place where women help women succeed and where community makes the impossible possible. Violeta set up her company in Villa El Salvador to make it more accessible to talented workers living in the area. In addition to having a largely female work staff, Tejidos Peruanos offers safe on-site childcare for employees, to give parents flexibility and peace of mind. Tejidos Peruanos and Violeta are prime examples of how women entrepreneurs reinvest in their communities, hire more women, and give hope to other marginalized populations.

It has taken Violeta over 18 years of hard work and passion to create the business of her dreams — impactful and profitable. Yet it was only in this last year that Violeta, through her participation in CARE’s Ignite and Strive Women programs – both supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – was finally able to get a bank loan in her own name.

“Tejidos Peruanos is the dream of 14 women,” says Violeta, “We have gone through many difficulties, but we have been able to move forward despite them. We have realized at this point that if we want to keep moving forward, we must keep preparing and training – not just me, but the whole team. This is a dream that we dream together.”

Enabling healthy market systems, while battling systemic barriers

Despite the creativity, resilience, and leadership demonstrated by Violeta and millions like her, women entrepreneurs face outsized barriers and constraints – including access to credit – that impede their growth and deteriorate their confidence.

The women entrepreneurs we work with through CARE’s programs are not willing to wait. They want to grow their businesses and they have the skills and confidence to do it. Our recipe for building a supportive ecosystem – one that values the contributions of women – works with local partners to design policies, products, and programs. Together we design tailored financial services, alongside training and business networks, with outreach campaigns to challenge harmful gender norms.

Policymakers, businesses, banks, community leaders, and individuals have a role to play in unlocking women’s economic power, valued at $10 trillion annually. We need whole system change that includes comprehensive macroeconomic reforms including fairer tax systems and recognition of the care economy. We need localized women-centered financial products and entrepreneur support systems to create more equitable economies for all marginalized groups, including women.

As we commemorate MSME Day let us recognize, celebrate, and promote the women-led micro and small enterprises that are the lifeblood of our communities. Here’s how you can show your support and make an impact:

By supporting the growth and resilience of women-led small businesses, we strengthen the invisible bonds that connect us. This not only helps unique and vibrant places thrive, like the Vietnamese noodle café in Hanoi, but also moves us towards a feminist future where equality and inclusivity become a lived reality.

ERGs Unplugged is our diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) podcast, where we take a deeper dive into the power of our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). In our fourth episode, Black Alliance members Destinie Harris, Candance Lewis, and Dre Moseley share their perspectives on the impact of the ERG.

To learn more about our commitment to DE&I visit: Maximus.com/DEI

As energy transition continues to take hold globally, the oil and gas industry stands in a central position of influence.

On one hand, these fuels are major contributors to carbon emissions. On the other hand, oil and gas companies have unique expertise, resources, and incentives to take a leading role in the shift toward more sustainable energy systems.

In what has been described as a “moment of truth” for the industry, it’s critical for business leaders to be aware and vigilant of the risks and opportunities presented by a global movement toward cleaner energy.

What does energy transition mean for oil and gas?

Oil and gas aren’t going away anytime soon. While research from the International Energy Agency (IEA) has suggested that global demand for these energy sources could peak by 2030, McKinsey asserts that “fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas will continue to make up a significant share of the energy mix by 2050, partly because of how they combine affordability and security of supply.”

With that said, there are clear market risks associated with the decreasing demand for petroleum-based products, along with policy/legal risks, technology risks, and reputational risks faced by companies in this space.

Understanding oil and gas transition risks and opportunities

At Antea Group, we are deeply focused on helping companies navigate the novel challenges of an evolving global energy infrastructure. Using the profile of an upstream oil and gas company in the United States, here’s an overview of transition-related risks as defined by the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), highlighting some of the latest legislative and regulatory action.

Policy and legal risks

The most apparent and forthcoming policy risk, impacting all businesses, is the recent SEC ruling requiring disclosure of GHG emissions data. That policy and others like it can impose compliance burdens on oil and gas companies and may increase the level of scrutiny on public reporting. Oil and gas companies should also be aware of the following examples of local and national pricing schemes:

A national carbon tax, while unlikely in the short term, will significantly increase compliance costs, especially impacting heavy industries like power production and manufacturing earlier.The American Petroleum Institute (API) has supported the idea of a national carbon price but there is no consensus on implementation details.The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a cooperative effort among 12 eastern states aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from power plants. It employs a market-based system where regulated power plants must acquire CO2 allowances priced at $2.50 per short ton of emissions.

Additionally, it’s important to be aware of these changes in access to leases and production costs:

One climate-related action from the Biden administration was slowing the release of federal leases, increasing exploration and production costs. Higher royalty rates and the rescindment of non-competitive leases are adding to the financial burden.New reclamation policies for abandoned wells and stricter regulations on methane venting and flaring can further increase production costs.

There is also an anticipated decrease in overall domestic demand for oil and gas as clean power targets from the government take shape. An executive order for the U.S. in December of 2021 established the following goals:

100% carbon-free electricity by 2030, with half being locally supplied clean energy.100% zero-emission vehicle acquisitions by 2035.Net-zero emissions building portfolio by 2045, including a 50% reduction by 2032.

Since 2018, 19 states have increased the ambition of their renewable or clean energy targets.

Technology and market risks

The adoption of electric vehicles and emission standards is having a substantial impact on the oil and gas industry, and demand for fossil fuels. For example:

Emissions standards set by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have been adopted in 17 states, including California and Washington D.C. These states are also committed to zero emission vehicle (ZEV) targets.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has introduced the most stringent emissions standards to date for heavy-duty vehicles, further reducing fossil fuel demand.

From a market standpoint, technologies such as renewables (solar and wind), electric vehicles, and battery storage are achieving cost parity with traditional fossil fuels more quickly than anticipated. This makes them more competitive and attractive alternatives.

Meanwhile, carbon capture technology is being developed, with support from investments in the oil and gas sector. Despite the ongoing effort, carbon capture has not yet proven to be cost-effective or scalable, posing a significant risk to its viability as a long-term solution for reducing emissions.

Reputational risks

Understandably, oil and gas companies have become a prime target of climate activism, due to perceptions around being a core part of the problem. Public criticism of new exploration projects and oil and gas operations generally are growing more common – divestment campaigns being one example.

Increasing regulatory pressure and continued stakeholder expectations to disclose environmental and social impacts are presenting increased costs associated with business operations.

Overprepare to avoid being overwhelmed

Oil and gas companies have a lot on their radars right now, in an industry brimming with both excitement and uncertainty. Understanding the evolving regulatory landscape and the various risks at play in connection with energy transition is crucial to effectively guiding your business into the future.

Antea Group is here to help. Learn about our energy transition consulting services.