Alumni Impact

Twenty new laptop computers loaded with software await this year’s Project Artemis fellows when they arrive in October, thanks to the generosity of T-bird Rob Owen ’06, an adjunct professor at the school.

Owen, who also provided computers to the 2008 fellows, said he will continue to contribute for years to come.

Project Artemis Afghanistan is a business training program that aims to build the entrepreneurial skills of promising Afghan businesswomen. The newest group of 20 fellows will arrive at Thunderbird on Oct. 16.

In a recent e-mail Owen described why he believes in Project Artemis and what inspires him to help:

“I don’t give laptops to contribute to Project Artemis. I hate injustice, and injustice is what I see a great deal of in Afghanistan, especially so to women. I also feel for people who feel they lack power and the opportunity to be powerful. (A much more complicated conversation than one simple sentence) The real reason I give is because I know my contribution of 20 laptops goes to 20 specific people; and what’s even better, I get to meet the 20 people. I get the human connection that I may be making a difference for that person. It is not nameless, faceless, giving.”

Rob will deliver the laptops to the fellows during an informal orientation the day before their program starts Oct. 18. He said he will ask nothing in return, only for the recipients to “make a difference for someone else.”

Project Artemis Program Manager Wynona Heim ’08 said that the laptops donated by Owen have set this program apart from many other similar programs.

“This year we had more applications than we’ve ever had before, and from more provinces in Afghanistan and a wider diversity of business models,” Heim said. “It’s a fantastic group of women and they all seem to be budding leaders, so we’re excited to see what they can do.”

Forty-four women from Afghanistan have participated in three previous sessions of Project Artemis, held in 2005, 2006, and 2008. This year, the fellows will leave Thunderbird on Oct. 31 and head to Washington, D.C. for three days, where the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council will host them.

They will then head home – with fresh knowledge and skills, a new professional network, and, because of Owen’s gift, their computers.

Posted: 08|11|10 at 12:47 pm.
Filed under: Thunderbird for Good.
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