Third world entrepreneurs thrive with dreams, focus and hard work
Carol Hymowitz
For women living in the depths of poverty, nonprofit BeadforLife is
just the stepping stone they need to help them achieve economic and
entrepreneurial success.
Mary Ogwang used to live in a one-room house made of metal in
Kampala, Uganda, with her 11 children and husband, a police officer who
earns about $ 2 a day. Then she learned about BeadforLife, a nonprofit
that trains women in Kampala to make beads from recycled paper.
The
beads are strung into necklaces, bracelets and other jewellery and sold
on the Internet and at parties in the U.S. and Europe.
With the money she earned making beads, Ogwang saved enough to buy a
sewing machine and started making children's sweaters. Soon Ogwang had
enough money to build a new brick house for her family, with a separate
bedroom for her and her husband and a television. She has since started
a second business, powering mobile phones on a solar panel she was able
to purchase with her increased income.
Ogwang is a BeadforLife success
story.
The nonprofit, like many international aid organizations, understands
that one of the best ways to alleviate poverty in developing nations is
to help women become entrepreneurs whose incomes can lift the entire
family's standard of living.
But BeadforLife, which was founded six years ago, also has learned
that some women are far more adept at running businesses than others,
and that it must identify early on those most likely to succeed if it
wants to achieve good results.
The group has created an 18-month entrepreneurial program that
targets women who are ambitious and innovative and helps them launch
profitable ventures.
"Instead of just doling out money, we want to identify women who can
use the bead-making skills we teach as a stepping stone to do something
more," says Torkin Wakefield, co-executive director of BeadforLife.
Most of the women BeadforLife works with have never held a steady
job, had a bank account or completed grammar school. Some have AIDS,
malaria or other debilitating diseases, and many have several young
children who depend on their care. "We are working with the poorest of
the poor," says Rashmi Nakhooda, coordinator of the entrepreneurial
program.
But their chances of success depend on the same traits as
entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley or Shanghai, Nakhooda adds, namely
"having a dream, a focus and being extremely hard-working."
When 96 women showed up for a recent orientation workshop the
nonprofit had publicized, they were first given an arithmetic test. "If
they can't do simple addition, they can easily incur a loss and not even
realize it," says Nakhooda. The test was the simplest hurdle, however.
Those who passed were interviewed over the course of several days about
their experience, about how they handle conflicts, (such as sorting out
quarrels with children) and how they've made life choices. Each was also
asked to describe her business goals and how she aimed to achieve them.
"One woman had no idea why she was at the workshop, so we ruled her
out. But another who couldn't walk, who was in a wheelchair, was
determined to find a way to earn money, so we asked her to stay" says
Nakhooda, who moved to Uganda from India 14 years ago and used to teach
in a Kampala business school. Over three days, the group of 96 was
winnowed down to 50 women.
One of the best ways to alleviate poverty in developing nations
is to help women become entrepreneurs |
Ogwang, who went through this process last year, was tapped as a
likely-to-succeed entrepreneur for several reasons. Although she has 11
children (and BeadforLife has found that mothers with more than five
children often lack the time needed to launch a business), Ogwang had
completed almost nine years of school and was proficient in reading,
writing and math.
She also quickly articulated a plan to earn money by making sweaters
needed by children in her neighbourhood. Moreover, her husband not only
supported her more than many of her friends' or relatives' husbands, but
was willing to help her by collecting orders for her sweaters at local
schools.
Ogwang and others selected who join the BeadforLife training program
earn money from the beads they're taught to make while also learning how
to launch and run small businesses. At biweekly meetings they write
business plans, determine how they will price and market the products
they plan to make, and are encouraged to save some of the money they
earn from their beading for their future businesses.
Within six to eight months most launch their own businesses, and
within seven to 14 months many start generating income. The goal is that
women who complete the 18-month program can begin earning as much from
their own ventures as they had from making beads. One woman now sells
cosmetics in a Kampala market, another is a tailor, a third sells jams
and jellies and a fourth has her own pig farm.
Once they've launched businesses, the women continue to receive
advice from BeadforLife staff, who visit their homes and shops. When
Nakhooda visited a combination hair salon and retail clothing store, for
instance, she says she couldn't immediately see the salon when she
walked through the door. So she advised the owner to change the layout
and to make business cards to publicize her beauty services. "We talk
about products, pricing and positioning, the same things business
consultants and venture capital advisers discuss with clients, just at a
smaller level," she says. It may be on a smaller scale, but the
entrepreneurial work is just as tough-if not even harder than in a
developed nation.
These women create something from nothing: Many have no capital to
begin with, and the money they do earn is more easily spent on
short-term essentials like food and shoes.
In other words, it requires great discipline to set money aside when
their immediate needs are so great.
Moreover, these women were not raised to think of themselves as
special and tend to shy away from putting themselves in the spotlight,
so it takes a certain courage to do what their mothers certainly never
did and what few of their friends are doing.
Perhaps that's where BeadforLife plays its most fundamental role; it
takes a special sort of nonprofit to recognize passion and ability and
help these women flourish against all odds.
(forbes.com) |