The theme for this year's Women's Bermuda Athena International Leadership Awards & Business Summit entitled 'Navigating Success: Keep Rising' is a particularly relevant one for Michelle Khaldun.

The general manager of the Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation (BSBDC) believes the focus for the 2009 event will resonate with every entrepreneur out there trying to make it in business to aspire to be successful and to reach new heights while sticking at the task in hand through thick and thin.

She also reckons the conference will be the perfect opportunity for those individuals working for a company or organisation which has been or is in the process of downsizing its operations to decide whether they want to start their own business and find out what options they have.

Ms Khaldun said the summit held a significant meaning for her on both a personal and professional level because of her connection to and shared experiences with fellow entrepreneurs and participants.

"I am very proud to have been associated with this conference in its origins, particularly with Keetha Lowe (event organiser), because I know her as an entrepreneur and had to the opportunity to work with her back in 1993 when she was starting her own business and was able to be there to support and guide her and, through the auspices of the BSBDC, provide a guarantee for her business," she said.

"She was a female entrepreneur who was also a mother of young children at that particular time and I was involved in having to support and provide advice and guidance where I could around the balancing act of being in the world of business and also, more importantly, helping her take the bold step into entrepreneurship.

"It is wonderful to see her over a decade later giving back to the community by organising such an event for women based around leadership and quality of life issues on a personal, community and international level.

"On a professional level, I have had the opportunity to be in various leadership roles in the community, and in so doing, have seen and known some of the stresses and strains of being the first or only woman is something I have noticed not only in Bermuda, but when I have worked abroad as well.

"It is always important to acknowledge that I have received support in that role and to provide it and give it back anyway I can through this conference."

Ms Khaldun, who will be moderating a panel discussion about empowerment at the conference, said that with women making up 51 percent of today's workforce, leadership and playing a key role at the forefront of business in Bermuda will be some of the main topics of debate.

And she aims to network and learn from other professionals, including both men and women, how they deal with not only failure, but also success, at the event.

"It is kind of fitting, especially from an entrepreneur's point of view, because it is all about assuming risk and empowering yourself to take over," she said.

"It is about getting up every day because you have responsibility, and it is also about autonomy and having control of your business and your life, having the will to do it and being flexible about how you do it."

Ms Khaldun, who was previously the permanent secretary for the Ministry of Education and Development and has held various senior managerial positions at Bermuda Commercial Bank, the Bank of Bermuda and Butterfield Bank, said no matter how many books and literature you read, there was no substitute for learning from other people's experiences, from coping with financial loss and retaining staff to enjoying best employee practices and relationships and running a successful business.

She said the BSBDC would be sponsoring some of its staff and team members to attend the summit, as well as inviting clients to participate in the event, adding that she hopes they will get as much out of the experience as she did at last year's conference.

"Sometimes females are branching out into their own business and when it applies to becoming a 'necessary entrepreneur' we have found that a number of entrepreneurs have gone off to do their own thing because of things like their companies downsizing," she said.

"The conference will hopefully provide the new entrepreneurs or those thinking about becoming one with real life experiences from people who have been there and done it.

"And for the existing entrepreneurs, I think it is just a great opportunity to refuel and reinspire themselves to a higher level because they don't have many opportunities for their own training and development due to work and family commitments, but this is one such opportunity."

Ms Khaldun said entrepreneurs and small business owners were so preoccupied thinking about present issues like cash flow, making payroll and dealing with their vendors and suppliers, that they had not taken time out to address their own personal needs to stay sharp and healthy and make tough business decisions and strive for success.

She said Finance Minister Paula Cox had inspired delegates at the 2008 summit with her speech on leadership and hoped that this year's offering would prove to be even better with a strong line-up of presenters in attendance.

"Really the work that we do at the BSBDC is about education, empowerment, support, advice and guidance around business issues and I think the conference will do the same thing in many ways to augment and complement what we are doing through our various initiatives including the Economic Empowerment Zone, the Rubber Tree Market and the Construction Incubator," she said.

"We are doing our part in the community to support entrepreneurs and by supporting this women's conference it is growing and we want to support that growth."