Got featured in this publication (page 16) of the Bureau of International Information Programs of the U.S. Department of State. The interview took place while I was participating at the International Visitors Leadership Program from August 21 to September 10, 2011. Web info posted at http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2012/03/20120301142407jezrdna0.5617865.html

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Enterprising Women,
Thriving Societies
U.S. department of state l bureau of international information programs

2. About This Issue
P
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE olicymakers My portfolio, a part
VOLUME 16 / NUMBER 8 and business of the U.S. Department
Published March 2012 experts have of State’s Global
pitched entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship
to women as a way to Program, consists
realize their aspirations of several initiatives
Coordinator Dawn L. McCall
and make a good living. designed to help
Executive Editor Nicholas S. Namba
Director of Written Content Michael Jay Friedman Several multinational women realize their
corporations have entrepreneurial
Editorial Director Mary T. Chunko programs to promote potential. The
Managing Editor Andrzej Zwaniecki women entrepreneurs, African Women’s
Designer Dori Walker including Goldman Entrepreneurship
Sachs’ 10,000 Women, Program brings women
Ernst & Young’s business owners from
The Bureau of International Information Programs
of the U.S. Department of State publishes eJournal Winning Women, sub-Saharan Africa to
USA. Each issue examines a major issue facing the Coca Cola’s 5 BY 20 the United States for
United States and the international community, and and Walmart’s Global ©Getty Images training and valuable
informs international readers about U.S. society, values, Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative. All of this business networking. In September 2011, the Asia Pacific
thought, and institutions. activity begs the question: Is this merely good corporate Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum’s Women and the
public relations, or is there actually a business case for Economy Summit laid a foundation for the continuing
Each eJournal is published in English, followed by
electronic versions in French, Portuguese, Russian women’s entrepreneurship? agenda of empowering women in the 21 APEC
and Spanish. Selected editions also appear in Arabic, Study after study has shown that the economic economies. And the Pathways Access Initiative (PAI)
Chinese and Persian. Each journal is catalogued by empowerment of women leads to poverty alleviation. As was built as a pilot program for training and connecting
volume and number. countries’ economic output grows, the range of options qualified women-owned businesses to U.S. corporations
for women to contribute to the economy expands. seeking to diversify and expand their supply chains. The
The opinions expressed in eJournal USA do not
necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, citing goal for the PAI model is to “go global” in the near future.
government. The U.S. Department of State assumes economists, said that “women’s increased participation in This issue of eJournal USA encourages women
no responsibility for the content and continued the global labor market in the developed world accounted to pursue their entrepreneurial ambitions. It cites the
accessibility of Internet sites to which the journals link; for a greater share of global growth than China’s” over the experiences of businesswomen around the world and
such responsibility resides solely with the publishers last decade. features successful women entrepreneurs who can serve as
of those sites. Journal articles, photographs, and Around the world women entrepreneurs are role models. It also identifies barriers and best practices for
illustrations may be reproduced and translated outside
the United States unless they carry explicit copyright increasingly visible as they start and grow their ventures overcoming them. I hope
restrictions, in which case permission must be sought into successful small businesses or global enterprises. Yet you will find the contents
from the copyright holders noted in the journal. women’s business potential is far from being fully realized. inspiring and useful. n
In both developed and developing countries, would-be
Editor, eJournal USA women entrepreneurs need better access to training, Jackie Piatt Spedding
IIP/CD/WC
U.S. Department of State capital and technical resources, as well as more exposure to
2200 C Street, NW business opportunities in the greater global supply chain.
Washington, DC 20522-0501
Jackie Piatt Spedding is the
USA
E-mail: eJournalUSA@state.gov senior adviser for the Global
Women’s Business Initiative
in the Bureau of Economic
and Business Affairs in the
U.S. State Department.
Cover images: ©AP Images
eJournal USA 1

3. Help yourself to
the products of U.S. Department of State / march 2012 / Volume 16 / Number 8
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Hungry for recognition and a
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0
Proudly Made in Albania
developing world vie for Donika Mici seizes an opportunity to fill empty
business success. store shelves.
1
1 on How to Start a Business
Tips 2
2
Sewing a Pattern of Business
First, don’t allow fear and lack of confidence to Success in the West Bank
hold you back. M. Scott Bartot
Fatima al-Jada establishes a business in Qalqiliya
1
2 Close-up on Women’s
A with a single sewing machine.
Entrepreneurship
Studies often contradict the traditional picture. 2
6
From Gym to Fitness Transformation
in Colombia
1
3
Building Business Story by Story Gigliola Aycardi becomes an entrepreneur
in Benin so she can set her own work — and
Running a hair salon, Maryam Sikira experiences a work-out — schedule.
flash of inspiration: If I serve drinks, why not food?
2
9 eaving Business of Energy
W
1
5 omen Can Have Fun as
W Reconstruction in Afghanistan
Technology Entrepreneurs When Masooma Habibi was close
Vinita Gupta, high-tech entrepreneur, to giving up, something told her:
founder of Digital Link Don’t stop! Try harder!
Corporation
When they innovate, they 3 H
2 ow Did You Start Your
feel elated. Business?
Six successful U.S. women
1
6
Betting on entrepreneurs were inspired by life events,
E-Commerce chance meetings or personal passions.
She has been called the
“mother of electronic 3 A
6 dditional Resources
commerce” in the
Philippines.
The opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily
reflect the views or policies of the U.S government.
eJournal USA 2 eJournal USA 3
©Getty Images

4. Women
Entrepreneurs
Energize Economies
By Laurel J. Delaney
As a mother, fashion designer,
entrepreneur and actress, South
African Nkhensani Nkosi has
mastered multitasking.
eJournal USA 4 eJournal USA 5
©Getty Images

5. ©AP Images
Top: Careful with your needle: Afghan-American Rangina Hamidi, right, owns a clothing business in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Right: No shell game here: An entrepreneur arranges sea shell products in a mall in Pasay City near Manila, Philippines.
W
hen I became an entrepreneur, I did not
have a pile of money, a safety net, a mentor,
or even a foreseeable customer. Nor did I The risks involved in becoming
an entrepreneur scared the
have experience running a business: In 1985, I left a
comfortable export position at a small manufacturing
company to start what later became GlobeTrade.com, a
global marketing consulting company. The risks involved
in becoming an entrepreneur scared the daylights out of
daylights out of me.
me. It is these risks that all women face when they take because I love to eat — doesn’t everybody? — and I knew
action to improve their lives or realize their dreams. intuitively that there had to be an overseas market.
In my case, what I had was energy, passion, limited I prepared by reading about 25 books on the subject,
experience, a desire to learn more and a “simple” (not examining online resources and then took the plunge.
life-changing) idea to help companies expand their My first sales call was to a local branch office of a major
businesses internationally. Once I focused on those Japanese trading company that had headquarters in
positive characteristics and the possibility of success, the Tokyo. I set up an appointment with the manager of the
risks started to melt away in my mind. I began to work up food division, sold him on my line of cookies, and the rest
the courage and prepare to start a business. is history. Up until that point, I had never made a sales
My first step was to try exporting specialty food call to a Japanese person, never sold a food item in my life,
products. I had already learned how to export specialty and truly had no idea of what I was doing. But the point
cleaning products while working for a manufacturer. This is that you oftentimes must learn about starting a business
knowledge was clearly transferable. I chose food exporting the hard way — by doing it.
eJournal USA 6 ©Corbis Images eJournal USA 7

6. ©AP Images ©Getty Images
Aren’t they beautiful? Secretary of State Clinton admires jewelry made and marketed by businesswomen in Zambia. Buy your milk and cookies here: Benita Lica, a member of Peru’s Collagua community, runs her grocery in the Colca Canyon.
Since that initial sale, GlobeTrade has achieved My experience is not unique. I am just one of an ©AP Images
success and developed a reputation worldwide as a leading
expert on global small business.
increasing number of women worldwide who overcome
fears, inhibitions and external barriers to pursue their ideas Women launch businesses for
the same reasons men do —
and generate primary income through entrepreneurship.
Women Entrepreneurs:
Gaining Ground to build wealth, to capitalize
on their ideas and to be
Women launch businesses
mostly for the same reasons
men do — to build wealth, to
capitalize on their ideas and to
be their own bosses, according
their own bosses.
a 2010 Kauffman Foundation
study. In the poorest countries studied by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM),
Courtesy of U.S. State Department
most women start businesses out an international university research consortium. Another
of economic necessity. 83 million women were running established businesses that
In 2010, more than 104 they had started more than three years earlier.
million women between In recent years, the rate of business formation by
the ages of 18 and 64 were women has significantly outpaced the rate of business
actively engaged in starting and formation by men across all ethnic groups in the United
running new business ventures, States, according to Maria Minniti and Wim Naudé of the
A U.S. business expert mentors an Indonesian entrepreneur in Jakarta as part of the U.S. Global contributing significantly to World Institute for Development Economics Research.
Entrepreneurship Program delegation in 2011. the economies in 59 countries Similar trends are found across the developing world.
Iranian-American entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari flies high: She has
co-founded two high-tech firms and made a voyage into space.
eJournal USA 8 eJournal USA 9