Empowering Women - Strengthening Communities - Growing the Economy
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Hello friends,This week we welcomed 10 new fellows for our fall Fellowship Program. This group ranges from investment bankers to economic planners to recent college graduates - all extremely intelligent and talented individuals who believe that microenterprise is the right strategy for economic recovery and who are committed to being part of the solution.Our corporate pro bono and volunteer partnerships have taken off as firms look at ways to be part of the solution. We have lawyers from the top firms including Nixon Peabody and Intel who are giving legal advice to our clients every week, KPMG leaders who are coaching our high flying clients, AT Kearney providing strategic planning and growth strategies, Google sharing their top executives talents and brand expert Kathleen Lau who is doing a brand audit. This is just a sample, there are hundreds of others who aren’t listed here but are sharing their time and talents. We invite you to be part of the solution, we have many other opportunities to get involved - as a volunteer, connector, seminar presenter. Please contact me about how you can share your talents and be part of something bigger. -Julie Castro Abrams |
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| Hot Topics Thanks for honoring women-owned businesses  Your response to our Woman-Owned Business of the Year award program has been incredible. In August we received more than 1,200 nominations for 500 restaurants, boutiques, and other women-owned businesses across the Bay Area. The city with most nominated businesses was San Francisco with 73 followed by Oakland with 52, Alameda with 33 and San Jose with 24 Click here to see the complete list of nominated businesses Currently, committees in each region are selecting winners based on the number of nominations received and the following criteria:
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| The Women's Crusade - How changing the lives of women and girls in the developing world can change everything The New York Times presents an essay extracted from the book "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide," written by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, to show us stories of courageous women in developing countries who are improving life for themselves, their families and their communities through microfinance. Below is an extract from this essay, we invite you to read the full article and discover why helping women through microfinance is key in the of fight poverty around the world. ..."In the 19th Century, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. In this century, it is the brutality inflicted on so many women and girls around the globe: sex trafficking, acid attacks, bride burnings and mass rape. Yet if the injustices that women in poor countries suffer are of paramount importance, in an economic and geopolitical sense the opportunity they represent is even greater. “Women hold up half the sky,” in the words of a Chinese saying, yet that’s mostly an aspiration: in a large slice of the world, girls are uneducated and women marginalized, and it’s not an accident that those same countries are disproportionately mired in poverty and riven by fundamentalism and chaos. There’s a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff to aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism. That’s why foreign aid is increasingly directed to women. The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren’t the problem; they’re the solution"... Julie Castro Abrams speaks up on Women's Radio  Julie Abrams, Women's Initiative CEO, joins Speak Up! a radio show from Women's Radio to discuss the importance of women and microenterprise in economic recovery.>> CLICK HERE to listen to Julie talk about the importance of women entrepreneurship. Girl to Gorgeous Project  In June, Ingrid Vanderveldt, “IV”, was the keynote speaker at our summer Graduation of 4 classes in San Francisco. In addition to being a TV show host, patent holder, skydiver and motorcycle racer, IV is a managing partner of Game Change Ventures, which helps entrepreneurs launch, make big deals, acquire funding and grow. IV was so moved by the Women’s Initiative graduates she met that she very generously offered them free participation in “The Girl to Gorgeous Project: success series,” a series of 6 tutorial conference calls, worth $4,500. The series began on August 18. Each 1-hour call covers a different topic, with IV offering important tips and lessons, followed by a Q&A session. Session topics include: Marketing You and Your Business; Money: Where to Get It, How to Raise It; Getting Help for Your Business; and Managing Your Ongoing Success. Approximately 30 Women’s Initiative graduates are participating in the series, and as IV says, “They are coming along so well, it gives me goosebumps.” In addition, at the end of the program, IV will select one participant to feature on her online TV show. We are so appreciative of IV’s generosity. It is the passion and action of business leaders like her that help make Women’s Initiative – and our clients – a success. |
Events
Graduations More than 100 women from Women’s Initiative’s Simple Steps and Paso y Paso programs will celebrate the successful completion of their business training course. These events are a wonderful opportunity to invite people you would like to introduce to Women's Initiative. San Rafael September 16, 6-8pm Pickleweed Park 50 Canal St San Rafael, CA Contra Costa September 17, 6-8pm Episcopal Church of The Resurrection 399 Gregory Lane Pleasant Hill, CA Hayward September 29, 6-8pm, Alameda County Office of Education ACOE 313 west Winton Ave. Hayward, CA San Francisco October 7, 6-8pm Mission Cultural Center 2868 Mission St San Francisco, CA San Jose October 9, 6-8pm, The National Hispanic University San Jose, CA For more information please contact Sofia Campos at scampos@womensinitiative.org Connect Events  Women's Initiative hosts Connect Events to help our graduates improve their networking and entrepreneurial skills to further grow their businesses. These events are an excellent opportunity to connect successful business professionals with Women's Initiative graduates. Our next Connect Event will be on Tuesday October 27 at the Broadway Studios in San Francisco. Details to follow very soon. I If you are interested in sharing your business expertise with our aspiring entrepreneurs, please contact Emma Maack at emaack@womensinitiative.orgabout being a Connector at this event. Top |
| The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and LifeSoul of Money Event Women's Initiative is partenring with FWE&E and Women and Girls Foundation in an effort to empower and educate our family of friends about leveraging our own power and finance to change the world. Join us for this unique opportunity to hear Lynne Twist, named Woman of Distinction at the United Nations and recipient of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award talk about the key secret about money — the one thing you need to now which will change forever the way you view, attract, and use money; and how to find sufficiency in your relationship with money — a message particularly critical in these challenging financial times. >>Click here to learn more about this event September 23, 6:00-8:30pm - Keynote message SAP 3410 Hillview Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304 GET MAP September 24, 9:00-5:00pm - Retreat and training Wedgewood Wedding & Banquet Center Crystal Springs Golf Course 6650 Golf Course Drive Burlingame, CA 94010 GET MAP For more information please contact Pemala Mejia at pmejia@womensinitiative.org Top |
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| Policy Call to Action Support Women Entrepreneurs and local economy recovery  Entrepreneurship offers women a unique opportunity to achieve self-sufficiency while employing others and revitalizing depressed communities. Women's Initiative strongly urges policy makers to include gender in all budget analyses - what we call a gender budgeted approach.We are deeply concerned that women are being left behind in the economic recovery. This is not only a social justice issue, it will result in a fragile economic recovery that does not meet the potential of our country’s resources. Specifically, we urge the following actions to support microentrepreneurship: 1. Invest in microenterprise training for low-income and minority women, including expanding funding for SBA Women's Business Center, Prime and Microloan. Call your federal officials to promote these programs so we can serve more women entrepreneurs. 2. Issue guidance letter to local Workforce Investment Boards on how they can support microfinance. A draft of this is available by contacting ederenzy@womensinitiative.org 3. Decrease fees for business licensing and other local barriers to business. 4. Municipalities spend millions of dollars in tax incentives to lure companies into their city. The same money can be invested in local entrepreneurs who will create jobs for local residents, the businesses will stay in the city when the going gets tough, the owners will source locally and will provide leadership and commitment to the local neighborhoods. We ask you to join us in pushing our city officials to provide tax and other incentives to encourage locally owned microbusinesses. The economic benefit and job creation is far greater than the stale strategies of the past. 5. Insist on economic stimulus that supports women. 6. Provide low-cost health care and child care. 7. Expand eligibility and use requirements for IDAs. 8. Create a national microenterprise agency (separate from the SBA) to address the specific needs of microenterprise. 9. Encourage the IRS to extend the availability of training for its VITA program to serve low-income tax payers with self-employment income. For details on the items on the list and the full policy paper, click here. |
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Graduate Spotlight  Cristina Besher was casually flipping through the San Francisco Weekly when she discovered that her business, Kika’s Treats, had been featured in their “Best of 2009” issue. Kika’s Treats, which offers a line of delicious chocolate-covered baked goods – and proudly supports the local economy by using only the best local and organic ingredients in each pastry – was one of four businesses to be named Best Cookies. Also this year, the San Francisco International Chocolate Salon awarded her first place in their Best Chocolate Comfort Product category. “I try to put out a good product,” Cristina says. “It’s very rewarding that it’s being recognized and people like it!”Surprisingly, the creator of these award-winning desserts had not always planned to cook for a living. Though she always loved to bake, Cristina studied economics in her home country of Brazil, and worked there for many years in the private sector as a marketing expert. She did very well, but explains that after some time, she began to feel that “[she] wasn’t getting what [she] wanted in terms of personal fulfillment.” Feeling ready for a change, Cristina moved from Brazil to San Francisco in 1999. She loved the city immediately, but knew she needed to find a job in order to be able to afford to stay. Drawing on her lifelong love of baking, Cristina approached the owner of one of her favorite local eateries about working in the kitchen there. After five months of work, it became clear to Cristina that her great love was working with pastries, and she spent the next seven years creating desserts for various catering companies, restaurants and bakeries. Then, in 2005, Cristina was introduced to two non-profit organizations – the Women’s Initiative and one of its partner organizations, La Cocina– and was inspired to start her own business, baking and selling the delicious desserts she had grown up eating in Brazil. Cristina discovered that she could get access to kitchen facilities at affordable rates through La Cocina, a non-profit incubator kitchen conceived in part by the Women’s Initiative and dedicated to helping clients grow their businesses in the food industry, but she needed a business plan before she could get started there. La Cocina recommended that she come to the Women’s Initiative to develop her business plan, and so Cristina enrolled in the Simple Steps course.  Not only did the Women's Initiative program help Cristina develop the detailed business plan she needed to get her company started, it also introduced her to a group of fellow women entrepreneurs that she is still in touch with today, nearly four years after graduating. “It’s wonderful to see fellow graduates running their own businesses,” she says. “I’ve met really wonderful women.” The Women’s Initiative also provided Cristina with a major grant to help get her business off the ground, which she says was a “phenomenal” help, as it enabled her to rent additional space to produce her products. Now, Kika’s Treats (named in honor of Cristina’s father, who called her Kika growing up) are available in stores throughout the Bay Area as well as in states as far away as North Carolina and New York, and Cristina donates 5% of all net profits to La Cocina to help other aspiring entrepreneurs. Cristina now encourages other women looking to start their own companies to visit the Women’s Initiative for help in getting their businesses up and running. “When other women come to me asking where they can get a business plan, I always refer them to Women’s Initiative,” she says, and reiterates: “it’s so important to have a business plan.”Selling treats has proven more difficult in the current economic recession, but Cristina continues to pursue new methods of advertising and gain new avenues of distribution for her products. She acknowledges that running her business is extremely hard work and exhausting at times, but finds it ultimately very rewarding, and feels gratified by her customers’ enjoyment of her products. “It’s very time consuming and it’s a ton of work – you have to really believe in what you’re doing,” she says. “But I do enjoy the feeling of empowerment that it gives me…I enjoy being my own boss!” Contact Cristina Besher through her website at www.kikastreats.com - Written by Arrin Kaplan, Women's Initiative Microenterprise Fellow Top |
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Get Involved! Women's Initiative values the contributions of volunteers and is committed to a partnership between staff and volunteers to move our organization forward and support our programs. We match volunteer projects to your skills and interests.Volunteers bring talent, skills, knowledge, and passion and help our organization be cutting edge in the microenterprise field. You can make a difference in the lives of low-income women entrepreneurs in your community! Click here to learn how to get involved! Find us on Facebook Are you a fan of Women’s Initiative? Then help us spread the word on Facebook. After becoming a fan at www.facebook.com/womensinitiative, invite your friends to become fans as well by clicking on the ‘Suggest to Friends’ tab. Top |
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Women's Initiative is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S Small Business Administration
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www.womensinitiative.org |
