Elias Derby: From a Revolution Supporter to a Sea Trader

Elias Derby is one of the richest merchants in the post-revolution Massachusetts. He owned the Grand Turk, the vessel from New England that made the first direct trade with China.

Being the son of a sea captain, Derby was exposed to sea trade at an early age. Before the Revolution, the Derbys owned a fleet of thirteen vessels. Like many locals in Salem, the Derbys profited from the ongoing Revolution.

Derby was in charge of equipping privateers during the Revolution. The Grand Turk, the privateer which the Derbys owned, became the largest and the most successful of its kind. It was the recipient of seventeen prizes from 1781 to 1782.

After the death of his father in 1783, Derby took over the family’s sea trading business. When the Revolution was over, Derby was the second wealthiest man in New England. Derby explored new markets like Russia, Europe, the Baltic region and the East Indies in 1784.

From being a privateer, the Grand Turk was converted into a cargo ship. Using its capacity of 300 tons, Derby sailed to Canton to trade with Chinese businessmen. The ship arrived in Salem harbor from its maiden trip to Canton on May 22, 1787, making Grand Turk one of the first five American vessels to reach the port of Canton, and the first from New England.

William Deming and his Management Theories

William Deming was an American statistician. He was born into a poor family which made it difficult for him to decide to proceed to college education. When he was in his senior years, Deming was encouraged by his mathematics teachers to attend a university. With much determination, Deming earned his PhD in Theoretical Physics at Yale University.

Deming received many job offers after college but he chose to work with the Department of Agriculture doing laboratory research. In ten years, Deming was able to develop nitrate fertilizers which resulted in huge agricultural yields. Modern Statistics offered a big boost to this milestone.

After his stint at the Department of Agriculture, Deming moved to the Bureau of Census. He used his knowledge in Statistics to develop a new breed of survey which is based on sampling. This technique was later used worldwide. When he retired, Deming worked with the New York University as Statistics professor.

During the World War II, Deming used Statistics to serve in the arms industry. With his friend and fellow statistician Walter Shewhart, he sponsored management seminars that would improve the quality and productivity of military armaments. Thousands of managers and engineers from the arms industry attended the seminars. However, the seminar was not well attended by the senior executives.

After the War, Deming was called to apply his sampling techniques to the Allied Forces Headquarters in Tokyo. While there, Deming met several Japanese managers who were interested to know his management theories. He gave lectures and seminars with the condition that the senior managers would attend his seminars. Deming held his first lecture in July 1950.

Deming’s lecture led to revolution that became a turning point in Japan’s recovery after the War. Japanese products which were the result of Deming’s management theories flooded the US markets. These products were easily accepted in American markets because they were cheaper and better.

Many American companies held on to the Taylor management principles. They prohibited Deming’s management theories until 1980. A TV program entitled “If Japan can, why can’t we?” opened the eyes of many American executives. Later, Deming started giving lectures.

Deming’s management theories are encapsulated in the following: “Management means placing the processes under control, coordinating operations and preparing for the future”.

Story of the Rise and Fall of John DeLorean

John DeLorean was the auto enthusiast who created the DeLorean car. This self-named sports car was very popular in the 1980s. Its body is made of stainless steel. It had gull-wing doors.

DeLorean became a legend in the 1960s after designing the Pontiac GTO while rising to the ranks in General Motors. He left GM in 1973 and established the DeLorean Motor Company. The DeLorean car was launched in 1981. By 1983, after producing about 10,000 cars, money became very difficult that DeLorean was forced to close his company.

The 1985 film Back to the Future which starred Michael J. Fox featured the defunct DeLorean car. After the movie, DeLorean hoped to resurrect his car company but he was stacked in financial woes that he declared bankruptcy in 1999.

In 2000, DeLorean tried a new business venture with the DeLorean Time. DeLorean Time was an online retail company selling expensive watches on the internet.

DerLorean was born in Detroit, Michigan on January 6, 1925. He died of stroke on March 19, 2005.

The Rise of a Fashion Leader

To ideate, plan, realize, and sustain a small business requires much more than passion. The truly successful entrepreneur knows they must market much more than a set of goods, but a guidance and sensibility. They know their customer, and effectively intuit their choices and preferences as consumers and individuals. Deena Abdulaziz, one of the leading forces in fashion in the Middle East for the majority of a decade, has employed this formula to the delight of her clients.

Determined to offer her clientele the cultural niche they enjoyed in a concentrated environment, Deena Abdulaziz opened D’NA, a Riyadh hub for alternative art, cinema, design, and fashion. She oversaw the 2006 launch and continued to cement her signature mix of old and new, couture and lifestyle. After the Riyadh location proved successful, she launched another location in Doha

At the heart of D’NA lies an extensive collection of pieces by internationally renowned designers as well as the new talent, all selected by Deena Abdulaziz’ careful hand. The wide spectrum of merchandise includes Oscar de la Renta, Misela, Miu Miu, Victoria Beckham, Frederic Malle, Suno, Al-Sabah, and many others. In order to celebrate the emerging names in the fashion world, the store regularly hosts events and trunk shows.

In addition to choosing exceptional apparel, Abdulaziz outfits the shops with enriching art books, which customers may browse while shopping, and exceptional furniture. The space holds rotating exhibitions by modern artists, and classics of alternative cinema frequently flicker upon the walls. Under Deena Abdulaziz’ leadership, the company persists as a treasured institution in the Middle East.

John Deere: His Invention Helped Meet the Growing Demand for Food Around the World

John Deere was an inventor and industrialist who developed the first self-scouring steel plow which became commercially successful. The invention came at a time when development was on the way in the settlement in the mid-western US.

Deere was born on February 7, 1804 in Rutland, Vermont. His family transferred to Middlebury in 1805 where his father, William, entered the merchant tailoring business. William sailed to England in 1808 but never came back. He was presumed to have died during the trip. Deere was raised by his mother. But because the family income was difficult, Deere‘s schooling was rudimentary. At 17, he became an apprentice in a local blacksmith.

When the business climate in Vermont failed in 1836, Deere was forced to move to Grand Detour, Illinois. Using his resourcefulness and with much hard work, Deere established a blacksmith which became in demand. Using a broken saw blade, Deere developed a properly shaped and highly polished plow to help the struggling farmers of New England turn their heavy sticky soil into a light and sandy one.

Deere was producing 100 plows each year by 1841. Because the demand for his plow kept increasing, Deere partnered with Leonard Andrus to produce more plows. Deere dissolved the partnership in 1848 and moved his business to Moline Illinois in favor of a good supply of coal and power and cheaper transportation. By 1850, Deere produced close to 1,600 plows and began developing other agricultural tools to complement his plows.

In 1858, Deere’s son Charles, who was the company’s vice president at that time, became the captain of the company, although Deere retained the presidency. He involved himself in political and civic affairs. He established the National Bank of Moline. He was actively involved with the First Congregational Church. He served as Moline mayor for two years.

Deere died in his Moline home on May 17, 1886.

His company, Deere & Company, became the world leader in providing products and services to people working with the land – those involved in cultivating, harvesting, transforming, enriching and building lands to help meet the increasing food demand of the world.

WEI Mortgage Corporation’s Extensive Realtor and Builder Partnerships

Founded in 2002, WEI Mortgage Corporation (WEI) has established a leading presence in the direct home loan industry in a relatively short period of time. The firm’s position at the forefront of a fast-evolving lending industry reflects its unique partnership model that allows access a wide array of services. WEI has notably established strong relationships with local real estate agents and companies in key markets throughout the United States. These relationships have fostered referral and recruiting associations that have enabled significant expansion in recent years.

WEI Mortgage Corporation supports partner realtors through providing comprehensive, tailored support to all referred clients. As a direct lender, the company has the capacity to seek out optimal financing avenues and to quickly commit, process, and approve loans. A particular focus among WEI underwriting professionals involves eliminating the chance of rejections in the final moments of the loan approval process. In addition to its full range of fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages, WEI Mortgage Corporation offers a host of refinancing pathways designed to extract cash value from owned properties and lower interest rates.

WEI’s trained loan consultants take pride in the relationships they have established with firms in the construction and development sectors. Communicating closely with builders, they accurately transmit the client’s ability to secure financing and seek to  provide a solid underwriting commitment within a day after initial home buyer interview. With hundreds of competitive programs accessible, WEI has the flexibility to drive transactions and can warrant condo and PUD projects. Closings take place in as little as 24 hours after underwriting clearance arrives, without prior notice. 

Visit the company's VentureBeat profile here.

The Legacy of Washington DePauw

Washington DePauw was an American entrepreneur and philanthropist in whose honor the DePauw University was named. DePauw was born on January 4, 1822 in Salem, Indiana. His father was a lawyer and became a delegate to the Indiana Constitutional Convention.

DePauw became wealthy because of his investments in several business ventures such as glass, steel and grain, during the Civil War, DePauw provided government supplies. He was known as the richest man in Indiana at one time. However he did not forget to share his fortunes and provided for the creation of a Methodist university in 1881. When the Indiana Asbury University trustees learned about the provisions, they asked DePauw to divert the funds to Indiana Asbury University. This university was later renamed as DePauw University.

DePauw married three times. He had four children: a daughter through his first wife Sarah Ellen Fletcher and three sons through his second wife Katharine Newland. He did not have a child through his third wife Frances Leyden.

DePauw died in Chicago, Illinois on May 5, 1887.