Phuong Quach
is a successful entrepreneur, an active member of the Silicon Valley Women's Initiative Board who raised $50,000 last year and a graduate of Women's Initiative Program.

Her passion for spreading the word about the benefits of Women’s Initiative’s business training courses and ongoing support started nearly 10 years ago when she participated in and graduated from the Women’s Initiative “Making Sense of Your Business” business training course (now called Simple Steps and ALAS in Spanish).

Phuong had been growing increasingly unhappy in her position as a high tech sales engineer, so she decided it was time to start her own business.  She wanted to work directly with clients but wasn’t sure where to begin.  A visit to the local Small Business Administration led her to Women’s Initiative where Phuong learned important lessons on starting and running a business. Prior to the course she was thinking of opening a local coffee house but after what she learned about running a business she decided to pursue her long term interest in financial planning.

“In running your own business, it’s very important to manage your profit and loss. This is not something you learn as an employee but is a critical need for business owners. From the Women’s Initiative courses I learned about managing P&L statements as well as business planning techniques that I still use today in running my independent business.”

Phuong got motivated to get involved again with Women’s Initiative over 3 years ago when she attended the annual awards celebration where recent graduates shared compelling stories, often from those with less fortunate backgrounds. With her roots in Silicon Valley, Phuong believed that it was important to open a local office in San Jose to serve women who were unable to drive to San Francisco due to the extra time commitment that would be involved.

Phuong joined the Women’s Initiative Silicon Valley Board to help the Women’s Initiative team make the San Jose office a reality. Phuong is now working towards fund raising to get more clients involved in the business training program, more SuccessLink services, and more support, encouraging clients to stay as long as possible with the Women’s Initiative program as they grow their businesses. Phuong has seen first-hand that too many entrepreneurs fail without an ongoing support network and feels strongly that Women’s Initiative services can provide this support.

Phuong noted that especially in today’s economic downturn, with the worsening income disparity and poverty levels in San Jose, it’s even more critical to develop local resources like Women’s Initiative to help women build their businesses.

As Phuong said, “If you teach a man to fish, he’ll feed his family. If you teach a woman to fish, she’ll feed a village.”

---Written by Barbara Barza, Women's Initiative Microenterprise Fellow

» Home | » Return To Top