This month Linda Magnusson-Rosario, CEO and founder of InSys Consulting Services, Inc., participated as a mentor to Farzana Ebrahimi, a 30-year old business woman from Kandahar, Afghanistan, through the Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women's Peace through Business initiative. Through the program, 30 women from Rwanda and Afghanistan came to the US for intensive business training and leadership development, followed by a week of one-on-one mentoring with a US-based woman entrepreneur.
"This experience has been inspirational for me and the entire InSys core team," stated Ms. Magnusson-Rosario, an Enterprising Women 2008 award winner. "Farzana is a very bright, motivated individual, determined to economically empower women in her country. While we may live worlds apart, we have so much in common."
Farzana spent much of her youth in neighboring countries, where she developed a positive attitude and began to dream about empowering the women of Afghanistan. With this in mind, Farzana founded the Kandahar Health and Development Organization (KHDO) to provide training for women in the fields of sewing, embroidering and knitting as well as computer literacy. Armed with these skills, she believes it's possible to foster economic development.
The five-day mentorship was part of the leadership development segment of the Peace Through Business program and allows for real-world implementation of the basic business skills learned during the in-country education. InSys hosted a global round-table luncheon and a day of touring New York City's historic landmarks. Rolling up their business sleeves in the kitchen together, Farzana's visit culminated in a culinary collaboration of an Afghan biryani. Julia Child would be proud.
"One of the most important parts of the program is the Pay-It-Forward segment. Upon returning to their countries, participants are charged with sharing what they've learned with other women," noted Magnusson-Rosario. "The impact is exponential."
About InSys
InSys Consulting is a New Jersey-based provider of IT and business resources with an old-fashioned commitment to client satisfaction. It offers exceptional service, in an accelerated timeframe, at highly competitive rates. For more information, please visit www.insys.com.
About IEEW
The Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women is a non-profit, working to empower women to grow their businesses, pursue greater entrepreneurial ventures and become more active public policy advocates. For more information, please visit www.ieew.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment