As 2020 begins, Funds For Learning is continuing our affiliation with the leadership development program PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS and its parent organization, the Institute of Economic Empowerment of Women (IEEW). Through our president, Cathy Cruzan, who is a member of the IEEW Board of Directors, FFL mentored two PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® women entrepreneurs last summer and helped both of them gain hands-on business experience, training, and valuable insight on how to improve and expand their operations. To hear these determined women’s stories as well as others in the program, check out the new podcast featuring the PTB entrepreneurs.
We are excited that our mentee this year is Florence Isaro from Rwanda. As a child, Florence grew up loving to read and had easy access to a community library, which is not the norm for most children in her country. She went on to earn two bachelor’s degrees and has worked as a freelance translator, due in part to her childhood passion with reading. As an adult in Rwanda, she has seen firsthand how challenging it is for parents to get their children to and from the public library. Her very inspiring objective for her business, Books and Brains Ltd. is to create an enterprise that will not only help kids discover the power of books but will also make those books more accessible to those children who don’t have the luxury of a public library in their neighborhood. Click on this link to read more about Books and Brains Ltd: https://ieew.org/2020/02/book-brains-and-little-smiles/.
The PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® program is providing a vision to the entrepreneurs themselves, but it is ultimately boosting small businesses in Afghanistan and Rwanda. We at Funds For Learning are extremely humbled to play a small part in promoting economic stability and capitalism in these emerging economies.
If you missed reading about our mentoring experience with PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS in 2019, please click on our Funds For Learning blog link FFL Mentors PTB for more information.
