Our first Global Cohort was a resounding success! Thunderbird for Good hosted 28 women entrepreneurs from Tonga, Samoa, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Palau. The women have since returned home and continue to share incredible stories of success, growth, and the many ways they are sharing their knowledge.

Goldman Sachs launched 10,000 Women in March 2008. It is a $100 million, five-year campaign to foster greater shared economic growth by providing 10,000 underserved women around the world with a business and management education. The program is founded on research conducted by Goldman Sachs, the World Bank, and others which suggests this kind of investment can have a significant impact on GDP growth. Research also suggests that such an investment in women can have a significant multiplier effect that leads not only to increased revenues and more employees for businesses, but also healthier, better-educated families, and ultimately more prosperous communities.

These culturally appropriate programs are intended to help open doors for thousands of women whose financial and practical circumstances would normally prevent them from receiving a traditional business education. Thunderbird is a proud partner in this initiative!

We are excited to host the 2nd Global Cohort of women entrepreneurs June 9th – 24th. Women from Latin America, Central America, and the Caribbean have been submitting applications with our US Embassies in countries such as Bolivia, Paraguay, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Argentina, Colombia, Jamaica, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Trinidad, Ecuador, Chile, and more. We are thrilled to be working with the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other local business leaders to make this program a robust and fun learning experience.

We will officially welcome this new class of entrepreneurs to our campus on Monday, June 11th, so save the date! More details to follow. Immediately following this Welcome Reception, the women will sell their goods, handicrafts and cultural items during the 10,000 Women Marketplace. It is the perfect opportunity for these women to practice the 30-second elevator pitch Professor Steve Stralser will have just taught in class. Come eat, shop, mingle, meet, and welcome these entrepreneurs to Thunderbird!

Did you get involved as a volunteer during the 1st Global Cohort program in January? We are asking for volunteers once again to join us for an hour or two. We especially welcome all you Spanish speakers! Join us for off-campus dinners, working one-on-one with the women in the classroom, site visits to local businesses, sightseeing excursions and more. If you would like to get involved, please contact Cheri Roberts at 602-978-7742 or cheri.roberts@thunderbird.edu .

We are grateful for any time you can generously give. These programs are enriched by your efforts, and you will be in turn edified and inspired by these driven women entrepreneurs!

10,000 Women graduate Hasina Mahboobi speaks to the attendees of the event marking the 4th anniversary of 10,000 Women in Afghanistan on International Women’s Day.

Written by: 10,000 Women Assistant Director, Amanda Carson

On March 8^th, 2012, 10,000 Women celebrated International Women’s Day as well as the program’s fourth anniversary in Afghanistan. The event was co-hosted by 10,000 Women and the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) in the university’s gymnasium and had over 300 people in attendance, including 10,000 Women alumni, current AUAF students and several dignitaries and members of parliament. We were honored and impressed by the turnout and in fact had to turn several students away since the gym was at full capacity.

The event opened with a brief introduction by AUAF Provost Dr. Dawn Dekle, followed by a beautifully sung Koran reading by 10,000 Women alumni Hanifa Fatimi. The keynote speaker, HRH Princess India of Afghanistan, is one of the daughters of King Amanullah Khan and Queen Saraiya Tarzi, the royal couple that introduced such progressive reforms as education for both males and females in the early 20^th century in Afghanistan. HRH Princess India is one of the founding members of the Mahmud Tarzi Cultural Foundation, which is an organization dedicated to improving the lives of Afghan women and children with projects that include schools, hospitals, health clinics, and professional training, while offering financial aid for students. Her foundation funds a children’s care center, women’s care center, library and museum, and her efforts to raise awareness for the plight of Afghanistan’s women and children has resulted in the funding of numerous orphanages, schools and hospitals. President Hamid Karzai awarded her with the title of Honorary Cultural Ambassador of Afghanistan to Europe in 2006.

10,000 Women Executive Director Pamela Rager then gave a compelling description of the history and success of 10,000 Women in Afghanistan and around the world. She opened with a quote by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who reaffirmed the importance of investing in women, saying that by “unleashing and harnessing the economic potential of women, we will see a new and better future.” Pamela summarized that the program has developed over 80 partnerships with academic institutions, nonprofits and governments, which have enabled over 5,500 women in 42 countries to improve their businesses. So far, the program in Afghanistan has educated almost 200 women with a goal to reach 300 women by the end of year five and an emphasis to reach more women from the provinces. Ms. Rager also gave special recognition to the men in the first “Male Support Group for Afghan Women”, and the whole room applauded them. In fact, at the end of the event, Prince Ahli (HRH Princess India d’Afghanistan’s son) requested to become a member of the support group.

After Ms. Rager’s presentation, 10,000 Women graduate Hasina Mahboobi made a speech on her success as a result of the program. She recently became a member of the women’s council of Astalfa and plans to open a women’s center there. She talked about all the awards she has earned over the years due to her success in business and her leadership in her community. She emphasized that the most important thing she has earned is the respect of everyone in her community, including the men. Her husband is one of the first members of the Male Support Group for Afghan Women.

Overall, the program was a huge success. All attendees were very engaged by the speakers and most stuck around after the presentations were over in order to network with the diverse crowd. Additionally, twelve 10,000 Women alumni sold their handicrafts before and after the event, and several others brought their business cards to promote their businesses to the event attendees.

Every year on March 8, the United Nations and women’s groups around the world commemorate International Women’s Day. This holiday first took place in the United States in 1908, and now is celebrated across the world by women in developed and developing countries alike.

This year, Thunderbird for Good looks back on achieving several milestones for women in 2011 and 2012.

Thunderbird graduates 28 women entrepreneurs (February 2012) – Thunderbird  graduated its first class of scholars this afternoon from the U.S. Department of State and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship Partnership Program. This group of 28 entrepreneurs, representing 10 nations, is the first of three “global cohorts” of women who will receive training at Thunderbird under the U.S. Department of State and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative. Today’s graduation comes at the end of two intensive weeks of business skills courses, site visits across Arizona and the successful presentation of each woman’s business plan to a panel of Thunderbird faculty, staff and students.

U.S. State Department and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Entrepreneurship Partnership video overview

Thunderbird faculty to develop online women’s business academy (September 2011) – The world’s largest publicly traded copper company, Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX) chose Thunderbird School of Global Management to develop a skills training and certification program for women in Peru and Chile, two of the communities where FCX operates mining facilities. The announcement was made at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City. The program will launch in March 2012 and will assist 3,400 female entrepreneurs in Chile and Peru.

Thunderbird collaborates with U.S.- Afghan Women’s Council partners to launch Afghan Women Entrepreneurs Training Toolkit (July 2011) – This initiative, made possible with funding from the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council at Georgetown University through a grant from the Goldman Sachs Foundation, brought together the three business training programs to develop a “toolkit” of materials for program graduates to use in sharing entrepreneurial knowledge and practices with other Afghan women business owners – or aspiring business owners. Eva Weigold-Schultz, U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council, Noa Meyer, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, Terry Neese, Peace Through Business, and Wynona Heim from Project Artemis were on hand at the 2011 Peace Through Business International Women’s Economic Summit held at Georgetown University to introduce the Tool Kit.

Happy First Anniversary, Proyecto Salta (July 2011) – One year ago today, partners from the public, private and nonprofit sectors launched a four-year campaign to empower 100,000 women entrepreneurs in Peru through business education. The campaign, called Proyecto Salta, includes a three-hour seminar that covers basic concepts such as marketing, negotiation, cash flow management, networking and personal development. Concepts are reinforced through a telenovela created specifically for the Salta training at community centers from Lima to Puno (near Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian border). Overall, 30,661 women participated in the free seminar during the first year.

Empowering Peru’s Women Entrepreneurs (May, 2011) – Five Thunderbird MBA students spent 12 weeks working with Proyecto Salta in Lima.. Proyecto Salta is part of a larger project called “Strengthening Women Entrepreneurship in Peru” or SWEP as we like to call it; in which Thunderbird is working with our partners to train over 100,000 women entrepreneurs across Peru.

Project Artemis Pakistan graduates reflect, dream, inspire (May 2011) – After two weeks, 15 entrepreneurship training sessions, a handful of off-campus site visits and final presentations to a panel of potential “investors,” nine Pakistani businesswomen completed the US Department of State and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Project Artemis Pakistan at Thunderbird School of Global Management and moved on to Washington, D.C., for a third week of business and cultural immersion.

Thank you to our supporters, volunteers, partners and friends that have helped us to meet these milestones! Find out some of our memories from the last International Women’s Day.

Alumni leader Malalai Jawad and Course Manager Zobaida Rasoul provide background on the program.

Written by: Amanda Carson, Assistant Director, 10,000 Women Afghanistan, AUAF

On Saturday, February 11, 2012 the 10,000 Women team hosted an informational session for the male family members of the 10,000 Women students in Cohorts 11 and 12. Approximately 20 women and their male family members attended. When the men arrived, they all filled out a survey relating to male support of women’s education and business and received brochures and other information relating to the program.

Hanifa Fatemi from Cohort 5 opened the session with a beautiful Islamic blessing. Course Manager Zobaida Haji Rasoul introduced all the staff members that were present. Amanda Carson then provided an overview of the program, explaining the partnership between Goldman Sachs, Thunderbird and AUAF. Veteran program instructor Fauzia Assifi led the rest of the session, describing the course structure, curriculum and wraparound services provided for all women in the program. She also emphasized the value of the program as well as why it is so important to have family support and buy-in.

At the end of the presentation, Zobaida introduced five 10,000 Women graduates who recently received awards from a business plan competition held by GIZ (German International Zusammenarbiet) and USAID: Hanifa Fatemi, Hasina Mahbobi, Shema Shafiq Sadat, Kamela Anwari and Noor Jahan Mohamadi. The group received a standing ovation and served as an inspiration for the current students and recent graduates as well as their male family members.

Recent business plan award winners are recognized: (from left) Course Manager Zobaida Rasoul, Kamela Anwari, Norr Jahan Mohmadi, Hasina Mahbobi, alumni association leader Malalai Jawad, Hanifa Fatemi, and Shama Shafeq Sadat

All the husbands, fathers and brothers seemed really interested in the program and very supportive of their female family members. At the end of the presentation, Deborah Barrett led a discussion to gather additional information and answers to some of the questions that posed in the survey. By the end of the session, about 15 men agreed to form the first ever “Men’s Support Group for Women in Afghanistan.” All the men gave their contact information and seemed excited to be a part of this revolutionary new group.

The 28 women who have completed this training represent a number of industries- from traditional handicrafts, to computer training- and a diversity of nations- from Palau to Tajikistan. They will return to their countries with enhanced skills in leadership, negotiations, pricing and goal setting, and with an expanded network of Thunderbird contacts. Today’s graduation ceremony was presided over by Thunderbird President, Dr. Ángel Cabrera and keynote speaker, Chief Justice Rebecca White Berch from the Supreme Court of Arizona.

“It’s an honor for me to be surrounded by such courageous and inspiring women from all over the world,” Justice Berch said at the ceremony. “They came here because they want to make a difference in their communities when they go back. They are an inspiration to me and to all of us. They have empowered themselves and they will empower their communities. I hope that they will use their talents and skills to make the world a better place.”

Graduate Jolene Sim, the owner of a social media agency from Malaysia, spoke on behalf of her class.

“A piece of advice that I was given through this program, is that in business, it’s very easy to measure success based on financial gain,” she said. “But one thing to remember is that success is measured by how you impact your community and the people around you. Thunderbirds have a huge heart. It’s what defines them, and the members of my cohort believe that. This program is going to go forward into the community and change lives.”

Thunderbird’s philanthropic arm, Thunderbird for Good, has been running programs for entrepreneurs coming from developing nations since 2005.  More than 30,000 participants have attended Thunderbird for Good programs at our campus in Glendale, Arizona, and in the communities where they live and work all over the world. Past projects have worked with women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Peru and Jordan, as well as male radio broadcasters and radio station owners from Afghanistan. This is the first Thunderbird for Good program to bring together such a diversity of participants from so many countries at one time.

“The mission of Thunderbird is to educate global leaders who create sustainable prosperity worldwide,” said Thunderbird President Dr. Ángel Cabrera. “We as Thunderbirds in our community share the commitment that we are going to use the knowledge of business for a good purpose, and make the world a better place.”

The ceremony ended with the new graduates taking the Thunderbird Oath of Honor, a Thunderbird tradition since 2005, which derives from the school’s belief that global managers must contribute to the creation of sustainable economic and social value. All Thunderbird graduates take the Oath upon commencement.

For more information about the Global Cohort program:  http://www.thunderbird.edu/about_thunderbird/thunderbird_good/programs/global_cohort/index.htm

For images from the Global Cohort program:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thunderbirdschool/sets/72157629004725141/

For articles written about the Global Cohort program:

http://knowledgenetwork.thunderbird.edu/thunderbirdforgood/

10,000 Women scholars with Professional Women's Forum members at Henkel

Written by: Wynona Heim, Program Manager, Thunderbird for Good

On Tuesday January 24^th, the Professional Women’s Forum of Henkel Consumer Goods Inc. hosted 28 women entrepreneurs from 10 countries in Asia and the Pacific for an afternoon business site visit, roundtable discussions on leadership, and a networking dinner at the Henkel facility in north Scottsdale.  The women are spending two weeks at Thunderbird’s campus in Glendale for an intensive business skills training course as part of the global Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative.

Cindy Demers, VP of Corporate Communications at Henkel, gave the ladies a short overview of Henkel’s global operations, primary brands, and an overview of what functions the Scottsdale location serves to the corporation.  This overview included Henkel’s Vision to be a global leader in brands and technologies, and how they act on that vision within the context of their organizational values:

1)      We put our customers at the center of what we do.

2)      We value, challenge and reward our people.

3)      We drive excellent sustainable financial performance.

4)      We are committed to leadership in sustainability.

5)      We build our future on our family business foundation.

To conclude the initial overview session, the ladies were given an overview of our host organization, the Professional Women’s forum at Henkel, including membership levels, activities, and the benefits of professional organizations.

After a lively question and answer session in which the ladies asked some very tough and detailed questions about how employees were motivated, how innovation was encouraged, and what the value of employee associations such as the Professional Women’s Forum were, the ladies were split into three groups and taken on a tour of the facility.

In the product testing section of the building the ladies were shown the “fragrance rooms” with their powerful air filtration systems, the sensory labs where testers were provided with samples of products and asked to record their thoughts in computer based questionnaires, and given an overview of how product testing is structured and how product testers are chosen.

10,000 Women scholars in the "laundrey lab" at Henkel in Scottsdale, AZ

Then on to the “laundry lab” where we donned safety glasses and entered a room filled with washers and dryers, sheets and towels, and every type of laundry product Henkel makes for consumers.  I had no idea there were so many types of Purex!  The ladies commented on how great the room smelled, and were very interested in the testing rigor of Henkel’s products, as well as the concentration on water conservation for this area of the facility (all water that goes through the washers here is then filtered through a grey water system and used to irrigate the landscaping on the facility grounds).

Our last stop was the brand label development area, where designers come up with the look for each new label put on the shelves, and test them by placing them on realistic looking grocery store shelves next to the products of their competitors.  We were even allowed to see a top secret new packaging design that will be released soon!

After our tour, the Professional Women’s Forum members sat with each group and had a round table discussion talking about leadership qualities, women as leaders, and many other side topics that came up along the way!  Not only did they learn from the ladies at Henkel, but we all learned a bit from each other – what a rich discussion!

The evening finished up with a networking reception and dinner hosted at the Henkel facility by the Professional Women’s Forum.  These ladies were doing a stellar job of networking, circulating around the room and handing out their 10,000 Women business cards to each new Henkel employee that they met.  A great way to practice the short introductory “elevator pitches” that they had learned from Dr. Stralser during Monday’s class, and a wonderful way to expand their network of women leaders joining forces to help each other around the globe!

The Office of Thunderbird for Good would like to sincerely THANK the Professional Women’s Forum and Henkel for hosting such an excellent business site visit!

Site visits like these give the fellows an opportunity to discuss practical challenges that they are facing- difficulty with talent management and marketing, creative designs and store displays and goal setting. Bryant challenged the fellows to adopt a word for the year- hers for 2012 is “enjoy.” She also gave a good lesson in management philosophy- treat your employees like family. Yamashita emphasized the power of courage. As a female owner of a piercing shop, a traditionally male dominated industry- she faced numerous hardships but never gave up. By sticking to her principles, she has been able to build her business solidly throughout the years.

See more images from the trip at our Flickr page.

Yesterday, Thunderbird welcomed 28 women entrepreneurs from 10 countries to campus for two weeks of intensive business skills training. The program, a partnership between Thunderbird, the U.S. Department of State and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative, is the first of three “global cohorts” of women who will receive training in Arizona. While Thunderbird has run intensive business skills training programs since 2005 for women entrepreneurs from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Jordan, this is the first time that such a diversity of nations are represented in one class. This “truly global” program brings together women from nations as diverse as Kyrgyzstan, Kiribati, Malaysia and Tajikistan.  The businesses that each woman operates represent many different industries, including traditional handicrafts, food service, farming, homeopathic therapy, landscape design, digital marketing and consulting.

The fellows were welcomed to campus with an opening reception and global market, attended by faculty, students, staff and our community partners.  Many of the fellows brought goods from their businesses to sell- including beautiful hand-woven Ikat scarves and handbags from Uzbekistan, capiz shell jewelry and home décor from Indonesia and painted canvases and woven goods from Papua New Guinea.  Remarks were made by Thunderbird President Dr. Angel Cabrera, Sharon Harper, President and CEO of The Plaza Companies and a member of Thunderbird’s Board of Fellows, as well as Ambassador Barbara Barrett, a Thunderbird Trustee and the recently announced interim president of Thunderbird. Ambassador Barrett has been a strong supporter of Thunderbird for Good since its inception.

For the next two weeks, the women will take classes with Thunderbird faculty, interact with students and meet with local female business leaders across Arizona. Today, the women will take part in a strategy practicum with Thunderbird Professor Dr. Nathan Washburn, and this afternoon they’ll participate in a roundtable discussion with the Professional Women’s Forum at Henkel in Scottsdale. Henkel operates worldwide with leading brands and technologies in three business areas: Laundry and Home Care, Cosmetics/Toiletries and Adhesive Technologies.

We’re looking forward to the adventures that we will have over the next two weeks with our first Global Cohort! Follow the Thunderbird for Good blog, Facebook page, Flickr and Twitter account for more news, photos and multimedia.

Afghan graduates of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women in Afghanistan meet with leaders of the Ghazni Province PRT team.

Seven Afghan graduates of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women at the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) met with Human Terrain Team (HTT), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) members of the Ghazni PRT on November 30, 2011 in Kabul. The meeting, hosted by Pamela Rager (T-bird ‘99), Executive Director of 10,000 Women on the campus of the AUAF, focused on current and future economic opportunities for the graduates in Ghazni Province. Several of the women already have established businesses in Ghazni and Kabul with employee numbers ranging from a dozen to a thousand.

Current businesses include fruit processing, tailoring, wool processing, construction, sericulture, and yogurt processing. The entrepreneurs discussed future business opportunities and various ways the PRT could support their endeavors. New business interests included cardboard manufacturing and aquaculture. The women identified access to training, land, and infrastructure as common limiting factors to business development and/or growth. The meeting was an exciting first step toward enhancing these entrepreneurs’ activities in Ghazni province and further meetings have been planned. Most importantly, these seven women represent a fraction of the 300 Afghan graduates of Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women and there are many more motivated entrepreneurs across the country working hard to enrich Afghanistan’s economy.

Edited by: Wynona Heim, Program Manager, Thunderbird for Good

Formal photo of Summit attendees

I was recently invited to attend the Istanbul Forum for Economic Cooperation between Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in Turkey on November 1^st.  Heads of state from all three countries were at the meeting, as well as the President of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Vice President and Secretary from the Pakistani Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

There were three of us ladies from Pakistan who were invited to attend: myself (Shagufta Parveen), Shah Rukh (both of us 10,000 Women graduates), and Saddaf.  We were pleased to meet four fellow businesswomen from Afghanistan who are graduates of our sister 10,000 Women program there: Fatima Akbari, her daughter Shahla, Andeisha Farid, and Malalai Jawad.

Women Entrepreneurs from Afghanistan and Pakistan

Basically the conference was a forum where we put our thoughts into words for our government leaders about what problems we are facing being business women in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The event was arranged by tepav (Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey) and TOBB (The union of chambers and commodity exchanges of Turkey).

Here is a summary of the challenges that we are facing as women entrepreneurs running businesses in our countries.  All of these challenges were communicated to our leadership at these meetings, and we hope that this opens the eyes of our leaders so that they can make it easier to have success for women like us.

Common Problems to Women Business Owners in both countries:

1. Getting a loan is too difficult and the interest rate is so high.  Often banks do not believe in women’s abilities.  Also, weak property rights mean that women do not have property to pledge in order to get loans.
2. There is a lack of marketing resources and ability.
3. The gap in electricity and gas power for running industry is a serious problem.  Even in areas where security is good, the power situation holds back business and keeps us from making our products.

Afghan entrepreneurs at round table discussion on Day 1 of the conference

Problems expressed specifically by the Afghan women entrepreneurs present:

1. Government policies are confusing and not well enforced if at all.  In addition, these women did not feel that the government of Afghanistan is paying enough attention to the welfare of women.
2. There is a serious lack of seed funding for startup and growing businesses in Afghanistan, especially when those businesses are owned by a woman.
3. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry around the country are not doing anything to help businesswomen in their communities.
4. There is not a way to network with other business owners regularly, creating a lack of knowledge about what is happening in the marketplace.

Pakistani entrepreneurs at the round table discussion on day 1 of the conference

Pakistani entrepreneurs at the round table discussion on day 1 of the conference

Problems expressed specifically by the Pakistani women entrepreneurs present:

1. There is no NSF (National Sanitation Foundation International: www.nsf.org – which provides standards development, product certification, auditing, education, and other services for public health and environment safety) in Pakistan or other mechanism through which business owners could get international certification for their products.
2. The government does not have long term policies for business and they put a high import duty on raw materials which business people need to import for making products.
3. There are not enough opportunities for trainings and skill development that will help businesswomen, such as the 10,000 Women Project Artemis training program we were able to attend at Thunderbird in the United States.

On the 2nd day of the conference we had an open discussion and after listening, officials and others in attendance explained to us what they are doing for Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Programs that they described included:

1. A project to build a train line from Istanbul to Pakistan and Afghanistan.  This will reduce transit time for goods to 15 days and will reduce travel/shipping costs for cargo and passengers.
2. Turkey is working to provide more electricity for both Afghanistan and Pakistan, and hopes to have nearly universal electricity coverage in the region by the end of 2014, Inshallah.
3. The three countries are going to create a mutual funds program from which business women can more easily get loans for their business at affordable interest rates.
4. They have already set up a website where business owners can go and ask advice from others who can help learn how to export products abroad.

It was good that there were so many people from our governments and business chambers at this conference.  While some of them did not seem to want to listen to the women business owners, and just took pictures with us for the press, others did listen.  I think that they didn’t know about the Pakistani and Afghani ladies and what we go through to own our businesses.  To hear from us was sometimes a bitter surprise, but it was good because we could open their eyes to the truth, and now they can better know how to help us.