SYRACUSE - Being a social entrepreneur means developing new business models that are cognizant of social responsibilities.

A business model recognizing social responsibilities focuses on the needs of a community, the people within the community, or the environment, so that there is an element of consideration for others in the development of the entrepreneurial model.

That's according to Jill Tietjen, co-author of "Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America," who spoke at the Sept. 18 luncheon of Women TIES held at The Craftsman Inn, 7300 Genesee St. in Fayetteville.

About 45 women attended the luncheon, according to Tracy Higginbotham, founder of Women TIES and president of Five Star Events, a Syracuse-based event-management company.

Women TIES (Together Inspiring Entrepreneurial Success) is a Syracuse-based organization dedicated to promoting and forging economic connections between women entrepreneurs all over New York, according to the group's Web site. It currently has about 300 members, according to Higginbotham.

Women have used social entrepreneurship to change and create business models, according to Tietjen.

During the luncheon, Tietjen used a power-point presentation to point out the significant accomplishments of earlier social entrepreneurs from her book, according to Higginbotham.

She cited Martha Matilda Harper, who used her chain of skin and hair care salons to develop the modern franchising system in 1891.

"[Harper] actually developed franchising so that women and men, but mostly women, could have a way of developing a business model that worked for them," Tietjen said in a phone interview with The Central New York Business Journal Sept. 12.

Madam C.J. Walker became the richest woman in the United States in the early 1900s, by providing the means for women to become economically self-sufficient by selling hair care and cosmetics.

Mary Kay Ash did the same thing with Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.

"It's a later version of the same kind of need - finding a way for women to become economically self-sufficient through effectively networking to sell products that people want," Tietjen said.

Tietjen also highlighted Amy Domini, who developed a completely different kind of business model in 1989, becoming the first woman to develop a socially and environmentally screened investment fund. The Domini Social Equity Fund is now part of Providence, R.I.-based Domini Social Investments.

Joyce Chen is another example of someone who succeeded as a social entrepreneur, according to Tietjen. Chen opened her first restaurant in 1958, which is credited with introducing Americans to home-style and gourmet Chinese cooking.

Tietjen believes there are three characteristics that the women in her book and all social entrepreneurs have in common -- passion, determination, and persistence.

"Unbelievable numbers of people are going to tell you it's never been done, it can't be done, you can't do it; and you just have to forge on and keep forging on," says Tietjen.

Her book includes a former Syracuse Franciscan nun who is one step away from sainthood. Mother Marianne Cope, also known as Blessed Marianne of Molokaifollowing her beatification in May 2005, is recognized for her work with lepers in Hawaii.

Higginbotham says many of the businesswomen attending the luncheon were impressed at the way some of the early pioneering entrepreneurs were able to succeed despite facing the challenges of that time.

"Not being able to vote, not having as many rights as we have today, being creative, and coming up with their own way to make money and then producing some of these major business concepts that have made it all the way through time," says Higginbotham.

Her Story profiles 866 women. Between 3,000 and 4,000 were considered for the book, Tietjen says. Madeline Albright, the first woman to serve as U.S Secretary of State, wrote the forward for the book.

A certified professional engineer, Tietjen is president and CEO of Technically Speaking, Inc., an electric utility consulting firm in Greenwood Village, Colo. Charlotte Waisman, the company's chief operating officer, coauthored the book.

The two were introduced through a woman who saw Tietjen speaking on a women-in-technology panel in 2002.

Tietjen says people have asked her if she was included as a profile in the book. She says she was not but is included on the back flap acknowledging her work as the co-author.

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