Business education for women who need it the most

Have you ever thought of a woman as an investment? Well, Goldman Sachs certainly does. Goldman Sachs has just launched its “10,000 Women” initiative, which will provide business and management education to 10,000 disadvantaged women, and will help build capacity for improved business education in emerging and developing parts of the world.

Like Acumen Fund, Goldman believes in the power of markets to transform lives and economies. The initiative’s focus on women’s business education addresses an unmet need with tremendous potential: More economic opportunity for women translates into healthier, better educated families that can benefit generations to come.

At the official launch of the 10,000 Women initiative, it was inspiring to hear from women whose lives had been improved by access to financial and business education. A woman from Nigeria talked about how she went into the publishing business because she loved books but knew nothing about business, and how at age 61 she decided it was necessary for her to go to school, which helped her build skills like time management and money management, and how her children were so proud of her. We heard from “Imam” from Cairo, who makes furniture but does not have the networks or mentors to understand how to market and sell her product. For her, a business education would be invaluable, given the number of times she has almost been forced to close her business. We heard the story of Hamida in Afghanistan, who has borne seven girls and no sons, (much to the dismay of her husband who has two other wives) and whose life is controlled by her husband and step-sons. Yet because of the availability of financial scholarships for business education, she has convinced her husband to allow her seven daughters to have the education she never received.

As I listened to these women, I was struck by how I could have been one of them. In a land of 1.1 billion people, India, where I was born, it was just luck and timing that gave me the opportunities for education that I have had. After the talks, I spoke to a woman from Kabul, Afghanistan, who did not have a husband, did not have children, but very proudly said that her job allowed her to take care of herself. I said to her, “that is all we want at the end of the day, not to be a burden on our parents or husbands or children, but to take care of ourselves,” and she smiled knowingly and said how happy she was that we had met. This is what Goldman Sachs has made possible – a meeting of women across the world and a realization of how similar we all are and how we all deserve the same opportunities. Through this initiative, 10,000 women are going to be connected to the mentoring and networking that Goldman Sachs, Acumen Fund, and all the partner organizations bring.

At the launch, Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, said, “We chase GDP growth,” and described how investing in women is a sure driver of GDP growth. This is an example of strategic philanthropy at its best. Philanthropy that ties to a company’s core business, that makes sense to its shareholders, that is championed by its employees and that utilizes a company’s strengths – in this case, Goldman Sachs’ convening power to get the right partners focused on a common goal in areas they know a lot about - finance, business, management. The launch was just the beginning of this well thought out and much needed initiative. We look forward to the day when a blog post like this one gets responses from some of those 10,000 women who are leveraging their access to education to improve the future for themselves, their families and their communities.

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