prepared by: Belinda Chiang updated: March 22, 2008 Website: http://www.ceowomen.org

Mission:

The mission of C.E.O. Women (Creating Equal Opportunities for Women) is to create economic opportunities for low-income immigrant and refugee women through teaching English, communications and entrepreneurship skills, so they can establish successful livelihoods. C.E.O. Women then provides women with intensive mentoring, coaching and access to capital needed to start a small business.

Inspiration/History:

Founder’s Vision: “As a young girl, I was always stricken by the incredible degree of poverty I witnessed when traveling back to Bangladesh, my father’s birth country. In college, I learned of Muhammed Yunus’ work with the Grameen Bank and how this revolution in capitalism did so much to uplift poor women out of poverty into self-sufficiency. Moreover, seeing the struggles single women in my own family had gone through to make ends meet while grappling with social welfare systems and single parenthood really made me want to create systems for social change. After several years of studying, researching and working with women facing incredible financial and social obstacles, I began to envision a place where women could be nurtured and supported to fulfill their life dreams.” –Furhana Huq

Business Model:

Can’t find on website.

Theory of Change:

Long-term goal: to address the unique needs of immigrant and refugee women struggling to become self-sufficient, contributing members of the world Preconditions: among other things, the organization began with a $1,000 check from a philanthropist Interventions: provides English & business training, capital, and coaching services for low-income immigrant and refugee women Indicators/Metrics: C.E.O. Women has conducted interviews with 44 women and tracked: personal income increase, household income increase, wage increase, growth of business, increase in community participation, increased confidence.

Core Programs:

C.E.O. Women offers a 16-week training program that teaches English and basic business skills such as marketing, legal issues, negotiation skills, finance, public speaking, and networking. Financially, C.E.O. Women provides qualified women with small cash grants of $1500 to help them launch and grow their businesses. It also offers women a matched savings account where each dollar of savings is matched at a 2:1 ratio, provided by C.E.O. Women’s partner organizations. The Shine Your Brilliance Series hosts small entrepreneurial activities open to the public such as cooking classes, conversational groups, and art workshops. This program celebrates the strengths and talents of immigrant and refugee women. C.E.O. Women also offers one-on-one coaching and support. Upon completion of coursework, women are paired with an experienced business professional that nurtures and counsels them in their business—from negotiating a lease agreement to marketing strategy to start-up costs. C.E.O. Women now reaches over 500 women a year, and graduate 60 women from its training programs. It focuses on serving immigrant and refugee women who speak limited English.

Recent Developments:

The founder and CEO of C.E.O. Women, Farhana Huq, was one of 21 social entrepreneurs from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America recently elected to an international fellowship by Ashoka. The fellowship recognizes leading social entrepreneurs for their innovative solutions to global problems. It provides fellows with a monetary grant, a global network, and lifetime membership to help them achieve pattern-changing impact.

Biography of Farhana Huq:

Farhana comes from a family of self-made entrepreneurs of the South Asian Diaspora. In 2000, she founded C.E.O. Women, the 3rd start-up venture she has been involved with, after being inspired by the enterprise revolution in her father’s native Bangladesh and by the struggles that poor, single women in her own family faced to become self-sufficient. Farhana has always admired the creativity and freedom of micro-entrepreneurs. She envisions a world where the most powerful and unlikely relationships come together to connect women in meaningful ways.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

1. Can you describe the first two start-up ventures you were involved with, and what lessons you learned from them that you then applied to C.E.O. Women? 2. What do you foresee within the next five years for C.E.O. Women? Ten? 3. What’s your business model?

Further Resources (2-3):

1. Hour-long Women@Google presentation on March 6, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sGMhmm8x_4&feature=user
2. Good overview of Farhana and C.E.O. Women in Tufts Magazine, Spring 2005
http://www.tufts.edu/alumni/magazine/spring2005/departments/alumni.html