Spring is the season when HERA again organizes and recruits for our London Summer Entrepreneurship and Mentoring programs and launches our International Grants Competition to prevent trafficking and re-trafficking. During this past quarter, we participated actively in Global Giving’s Women and Girls Campaign and held an International Women’s Day event at London School of Economics (LSE). Our France Association received valuable and encouraging feedback from our 2018 grantees (one of whom is profiled below). The London team organized two business seminars for the 2018-19 cohort of students and mentors as part of our monthly “Wednesday Wisdoms.” Currently, we are moving ahead on organizing this year’s entrepreneurship training at Imperial College London’s Invention Rooms at the White City Campus, mentor training at the law firm of Weil, Gotshal and Manges, LLP, and our International Grants program to encourage young women’s entrepreneurship and employment in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The aim of HERA’s programs is to prevent trafficking and retrafficking and other forms of gender-based violence by developing and supporting women’s entrepreneurship.
International Grants Competition 2019
The International Grants Competition has been launched in the four countries both on line and through direct contact with our local partners. This year, the HERA France Association, which manages the international grants program, is encouraging innovation. The purpose of the international grants’ program is to prevent dangerous migration and trafficking by supporting women’s entrepreneurship in areas of high migration of young adults. The program supports women entrepreneurs of any age provided that the venture owner makes a commitment to hire and train young women at risk.
The International Grants program also supports women’s social enterprises that encourage and generate training and employment for young women. Many of these social enterprises have supported some of the most at risk women – Syrian refugees in Armenia, Ukrainian displaced in Kiev and in border towns on the front line, and internally displaced South Ossetian women in Georgia. Although we will continue to encourage young women farmers and their agribusinesses, given increasing urbanization, we will also seek ways to support young women’s ventures in urban areas. Many young, unemployed women migrate first from rural areas and without job prospects, they seek to migrate abroad. This rural-to-urban displacement puts many young women at risk of being exploited within their own countries and/or by international smugglers and traffickers.
Last autumn the HERA France Association team funded five young women in Tiraspol, Transnistria, who have organized a Montessori Children’s Club, a social enterprise.[i] The Club provides seminars on early childhood development, psychotherapy for women and children through clay modelling, classes for childbirth and breastfeeding, and advice on women’s income generation. They also provide Montessori education for infants from birth-to-three years and children, three-to-six years, including those with special needs. The Club encourages women participants to start their own courses as well.
At their request, our team provided the Club with a projector, printer, and chairs. Based on the the support provided, the Montessori Children’s Club reports that they have been able to employ a young psychologist and a young woman to market their work through social media. They have used the equipment for a series of seminars by the psychologist on parenting skills and breastfeeding for children over 12 months. The Club’s monthly turnover has also increased by 17%. They plan to increase the outreach of their work ahead by hosting more seminars for parents both at the Club and through social media.
HERA France Association Plans Ahead
On May 1st, the HERA France Association launched our 10th Annual International Grants Competition. Already we have received a few applications. In late June, an international team will read and rank all the applications. During the summer and early autumn, teams of two assessors will visit ventures ranked in the top two quartiles and with the successful grantees, we fund their chosen equipment or other costs on the spot.
Several partners, including local and international NGOs, a Government agency, and former grantees, have reached out to promote and recruit applicants for this year’s competition. Some of our former grantees at their own cost are organizing information seminars to women venture owners in their local communities about HERA’s grants criteria. The former entrepreneurs and NGO partners are also willing to collaborate with us on training and networking events during the field assessments. With all this strong support, we look forward to assessing and funding more grants and offering more training sessions in the four countries in the coming summer and autumn.
International Women’s Month Events
For International Women’s Day on the 6th March, Sarah Videau, HERA UK’s Program Director and Joanne Chidwick, Trustee, participated in Salesforce’s Panel Discussion, which followed a screening of a UNICEF film against trafficking. This event attended by 40 people was held at Salesforce’s London headquarters for secondary school students and company employees. Following the event, the students reported organizing their own information campaign against trafficking at their school.
That same day, in partnership with London School of Economics (LSE), the HERA UK team organized a panel of women entrepreneurs and leaders hosted by LSE. The Deputy Director of LSE’s MSc Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Nadia Millington, moderated our Woman’s Day Panel, which included: Elise Do, HERA’s Chair of Trustees and Associate Director at Augusta and Co.; Grace Olugbodi, Founder of BeGenio and Easymaths Skills; and Ana Maria Torres, Founder of Hilo Sagrado, a social enterprise that promotes artisan communities in Latin America. Some 100 people attended the event. The LSE amphitheatre was filled to capacity such that the organizers had to turn students and visitors away.
Monthly Seminar Series – “Wednesday Wisdoms”
In April Chris Merrington, author and founder of Spring 80:20, led a seminar on pricing and marketing for this year’s cohort of HERA students and mentors. Chris advised the audience that the clients/customers should be your priority, because without them “you do not have a business.” He explained how to define who is your customer and how to attract and negotiate without devaluing your product or service. Chris also discussed how to counter people’s preconceptions based on your gender, age, or origin. The HERA women asked several questions, including "when you start your business and don’t have much experience, is it better to price low and increase later, or does that set a bad precedent?"
In May, our final Wednesday Wisdom session for this year’s cohort, held at Salesforce, was on personal and professional development. The Salesforce team recommended starting with “why?”, setting goals, establishing realistic plans to achieve them, and obtaining feedback. The team shared their own plans and motivation techniques. The session ended with everyone writing a motivational postcard to their future selves that they will receive in six months.
HERA UK Plans Ahead
HERA’s 12th London Entrepreneurship Program will be held from 1-19 July for 25 women survivors of trafficking and other forms of gender-based violence. Preparations are well underway. The team has reached out to 15 first responder charities and already six candidates from three charities have been offered a place on this year’s course. Since inception in 2008, the course has been hosted by Imperial College. For the first time, the Mentor Training will take place over one day on 29 June at from 10:00 – 16:00 at the law firm of Weil, Gotshal and Manges, LLP.
This year’s course will be led by Dr. Mohammed Ebrahim, who has taught finance for previous HERA programs, and Sarah Videau, HERA UK’s Program Director. Since 1992, Ebrahim has been a principal Imperial teaching fellow and faculty member in Finance and Accounting at Imperial’s Business School and Entrepreneurship Hub. A graduate of the LSE, Ebrahim teaches, researches and consults in accounting, finance, innovation and entrepreneurship. He has held visiting lectureships for the LSE, City University, Queen Mary University of London, and is an accredited examiner of the University of London external program and fellow of the Institute of Learning and Teaching. Together Ebrahim and Sarah, who has organized HERA entrepreneurship training for over three years, bring extensive experience in teaching HERA’s UK entrepreneurship program. This year, in addition to the annual Borough market analysis, they have also planned several experiential-based learning opportunities and teaching events at Salesforce, Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) and LSE.
Upcoming Event and Appreciation
A HERA team is participating in the Regent’s Park Run Summer 10k Series to raise funds for our summer programs. The race will be held on Sunday, 2 June at 9:30 am and we will host a picnic for all participants immediately after the run. Please contact us if you are interested by joining our Team and/or in any mentoring, grants, and training opportunities.
A sincere thanks to all our generous donors for your contributions during this year’s Girls and Women’s Campaignand for your kind support throughout the year. We depend entirely on private in-kind and financial donations. We could never do all this without your support!
[i] We received permission for the photographs and names cited in this report. All citations adhere to GDPR safeguards and HERA’s policies for protection of vulnerable adults.
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At the start of 2019, the HERA team updated our outcomes to date. Here are our most recent figures:
Despite rising anti-immigrant sentiment, HERA UK trafficking survivors continue to find work; study for advanced degrees and training; and pilot a few ventures. In a brief survey of 15 women, who attended the holiday party this year, all (100%) reported positively about their mentoring experiences this year.
To prevent trafficking and increase women’s employment, HERA’s France Association provided grants this year to a record 45 women entrepreneurs in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. To date HERA teams, who follow up the ventures a year or more later, have evaluated 78% of ventures funded through 2017. Of 78% evaluated, 94% are sustaining or growing their ventures. The 254 ventures funded through 2018 have created some 463 new jobs in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine at an average cost of $390/job. Through hard work and determination, these women entrepreneurs are helping to prevent trafficking by employing and training young women at risk of dangerous migration and trafficking. They are also delivering essential goods and services to local economies.
A few Reports from the 2018 Entrepreneurs
A Bakery Owner in Armenia, writes that with the freezer HERA helped to purchase, her team now produces 168 packets of frozen dough monthly from which she earns an additional $121/month. For the new dough production, she employed two more young women (24 and 31 years of age), who according to the owner, “refused to go to Russia and stayed to work with us.”
The Director of a Montessori Program in Tiraspol, Transnistria, writes that with the printer she bought with the HERA grant, “we increased the quality of classes for children under three years old. Now we can print colorful pictures for crafts.” She also writes that their resident young, woman psychologist used the projector provided by through the HERA grant to deliver seminars on parenting and breastfeeding. With the HERA support, the program was able to offer another job to a young woman (bringing the total to seven women employed) and its monthly profit increased by 17%.
A Dairy Farmer from Moldova, reports that with HERA’s provision of a fodder mixer, she improved the quality of her cattle feed and saved 20% on feed costs. She also writes, “I hope that I will be able to increase the number of cows in order to produce more milk. In the future, we also want to raise cattle for meat, because we have the opportunity, with approximately 300 animals, to improve food supplies.”
The President of an Armenian Social Enterprise, writes that the “industrial sewing machine [bought with the grant] made our production process faster, now we produce 3 times more than before. We also provided employment opportunities to two more unemployed, socially disadvantaged women.” She also reports that their average monthly turnover increased from $170 (EUR 150) to $507 (EUR 450) and their sales outlets from five local ones to seven local, five in Yerevan, and one in Aghtala in the south. The enterprise team is also working on developing an export market.
HERA UK Activities
During this last quarter, HERA UK organized monthly entrepreneurship and business seminars for the 2018 women summer graduates (who survived trafficking and other forms of violence), as follows:
In September, a communications expert spoke to the HERA women on “How to Tell Your Story.” The speaker had a career in politics as special assistant and speech writer for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan and for UNHCR in Geneva. She has also led her own business for over 12 years and written on presentation and personal branding.
In October, a young woman entrepreneur addressed “My Entrepreneur’s Journey and What I Learned.” She explained that entrepreneurship had been part of her life from an early age. As many entrepreneurs, she wears several hats from impersonating Diana Ross to being a keynote speaker and coach. She described her several attempts to launch ventures before succeeding and why they had failed. She urged her audience to take care not to waste time with a venture where there is no demand and to trial the business with a small audience first. She advised the HERA women "to be patient, passionate and to remember that you can make it work even when all does not go as planned." Her observation that “failing is just learning” was well received by the HERA audience.
In November, a Woman's Corporate Network presented an online learning platform. The HERA women went to the corporate offices in the City of London to learn about the platform. Prior to the event, the HERA Coordinator, worked with the Women’s Network to design platform content specifically tailored to the HERA women graduates’ career interests and requirements.
In January, a young woman trauma survivor shared her positive experiences of resilience and learning. She spoke about “Becoming an Overcomer in 2019.” Many HERA graduates are currently discouraged by lengthening asylum waits. The speaker advised the women not to let bad experiences drag them down but to look forward. For making 2019 resolutions, she recommended the HERA women ask themselves, “What do I want to pay attention to this year? What resources do I have for that? What will I do next?” The speaker said that her personal motto when life becomes difficult to handle, and bad memories resurface, is: “Fearfully made, uniquely loved and eternally purposed.”
Halloween Bake Off
In early November HERA UK held its first Halloween Bake-off, where children from age 8-14 met at a Community Centre in London to raise money for HERA. The owner of a Cake School and Cookbook author judged the children's baked products. The 8-10 year old winner wowed all with his amazing ‘Day of the Dead’ sponge cake. The 11-14 year old winner's product was inspired by ‘Skulltrooper’ from the latest XBOX trend Fortnite. All in all, the youth raised £1,200 for HERA. Many thanks to these young bakers and to the HERA Trustee, who volunteered many hours of her time, to organize this event.
The HERA team wishes all our supporters a happy and fulfilling year ahead. Once again, please accept our heartfelt thanks for your contributions!
As we head into the end of 2018, the HERA teams would like to provide a few updates of our activities and accomplishments this past year that you have generously supported.
With your support, we were able to:
Your support this year alone has helped to:
Here are three examples of how your support has made a difference:
Why HERA?
We wish everyone a lovely Holiday Season ahead. Please consider contributing to HERA on “Giving Tuesday” - November 27 – when your donation may be matched. Or, if you give to HERA any time before the end of this year, you can help us towards reaching our funding goal of $100,000. The current campaign, launched in 2012, is making a difference in allowing all of us to support women’s economic empowerment and to prevent trafficking and re-trafficking. We could not have done it without all the support of many generous individuals.
Thank you!
Links:
In this Second Quarter, HERA UK and HERA France Association members conducted three major activities to prevent re-trafficking of women survivors in the UK and dangerous migration of young women from Central and Eastern Europe through strengthening women’s entrepreneurship. In May and June, the HERA France Association’s expert panel concluded its review of the Sixth Annual International Grants Competition submissions from women entrepreneurs in four countries – Armenia, Georgia, Armenia and Ukraine -- and informed all applicants of the competition results. In June and July, HERA’s UK team ran its 11th Entrepreneurship Training and Mentoring Program at Imperial College London for 22 trafficked women survivors. In July, one of four HERA France teams carried out the assessments of the highest ranked ventures in Armenia, delivered networking and training sessions in three different regions, and met with local partners. What follows is a brief summary of our outcomes and results from these three activities.
Sixth Annual International Grants Competition – The international assessment panel of seven reviewers received 133 applications this year from the four countries, which is the highest number received in any competition to date. Of the 133 applications, the panel rated 41 in the top category (10 out of a total 15 points). The seven reviewers came from Germany, Britain, France, and Italy and included a banker, business professor, economist, engineer, NGO manager, and agricultural specialist.
After the peaceful revolution and transfer of power in Armenia in May, several applications from there came in later so the assessors held the competition open through mid-May. Three former grantees in Armenia also spread the word far and wide and helped women to fill out the forms correctly. Caritas, an NGO working with the Government, also wanted to send us over 100 applications but we persuaded them to take their top five that best fit with our criteria of supporting ventures that would employ young women at risk of dangerous migration and trafficking. We also agreed to open our networking and training sessions to their Government applicants. In addition, several applications came in later from Ukraine which we considered to the extent possible since many are refugee women, who only heard late about the competition. When all the applications were eventually scored, only 30% were in the bottom quartile; and the overall quality of the applications this year was higher than ever. HERA France Association then organized teams of two to evaluate the ventures in the four countries over the summer and early fall. The teams agreed to consider ventures in the top two quartiles to the extent possible and to follow up with ventures from earlier years to assess their progress.
HERA UK Entrepreneurship Training and Mentoring - This year’s entrepreneurship program, the 11thto date held at Imperial College London, was the most competitive ever. For the first time, the program was held at Imperial’s newly created Innovation Centre and was supported by the University Provost and Vice President. Given this university-wide support, the team decided that this year’s program had to be selective and only enroll women who were ready for and wanted this training and that it could make a difference to the women's self esteem and careers.
Following individual interviews with Sarah Videau, the HERA UK Director, and Jo Chidwick, HERA UK trustee, to assess the women’s readiness and desire for the program, 22 of the 34 applicants (representing a 65% acceptance rate) were enrolled. The 22 women ranged in age from 19 to 45, with an average age of 32.5 years old (which corresponds with international findings that the average age of women entrepreneurs is the mid-30’s). Together the women represented 14 different nationalities of origin, including Nigerian, Zimbabwean, British, Jamaican, Senegalese, Pakistanis, Iranian, Filipino, Gambian, Bangladeshi, Colombian, St Lucian, Vietnamese and Chinese. They were referred to us by HERA’s partnering charities: Medaille Trust, Sophie Hayes Foundation, Caritas Bakhita Project, Hibiscus Initiative, Catholic Workers Farm, Women @ the Well, and Hestia.
The women all came with the objective of acquiring new skills and eventually opening a business. Although some already had strong ideas about what their venture and/or career plans, a few joined HERA with the hope of gaining clarity. Each of their unique backgrounds and skillsets came together during the three weeks at Imperial Business School to produce accomplished presentations of their business plans.
Prior to and during the course, the team trained 26 mentors over three sessions and thus, were able to provide each woman who successfully completed their business plan presentations with a mentor tailored to their plans and interests. The additional mentors will be assigned at a later date as some mentor-mentee relationships invariably do not work. A mentor may move and/or find that s/he cannot make the expected time commitment. As with any relationship some just do not work so the team arranges mentor-mentee exchanges in September.
For the entrepreneurship training, the UK team engaged a wide range of professionals and academics, which again ensured a very high quality level of training. The women appreciated having the chance to study at Imperial College. They were also hosted for an afternoon at Salesforce offices in the City. The team kept the same MBA format as previous years. They divided students into teams to present final projects together and organized a Market Exercise with a real-life entrepreneurship test where the students interviewed businesses at the Borough Market, and then in teams, had a small amount to invest and/or build on from which to generate a profit.
Some positive features of this year’s program were:
The students wrote at the end of the course:
“This program is one of a kind! You teach minds, touch hearts, transform lives!”
“I suggest we should not stop this program because there is a lot of people out there that still need this type of program to empower themselves.”
“I would love to work and give back to HERA in a very near future!”
“Thank you to all the HERA team and all those professors and participants. You are doing an excellent work to help other human beings. I am grateful. Well done HERA.”
“Thank you for helping us find ourselves.”
On a scale of 1-5 (with five being the highest score), 16 of the 22 students rated the program at five, three rated it four. This year’s program, with an 87% response rate, received an overall score of 4.8 out of five.
Armenia Assessment – Two HERA France Association members, Lynellyn Long and Sonia Boubekri, met with Armenian venture owners whose applications had been ranked in the first two quartiles. During the assessment, they met 26 women-owned ventures and funded 16. They also funded the mentoring/transport costs for two women entrepreneurs, former grantees, who are actively mentoring other women venture owners in their region.
Of the 16 ventures funded, only three – a bakery, printing business, and meat packing business – were second time grantees. These grantees had clearly demonstrated that their businesses were growing and they were employing more young women. In the case of the bakery, the owner also plans to open a new Syrian sweet line and employ three young Syrian women refugees in her village. The first time ventures funded included three social enterprises in the arts, handicrafts, and fruits/jams; an English and math center; kindergarten; cosmetic production; hair dressing; bakery; wedding events planner; florist; fruit farm; and leather production. All demonstrated a track record of sales and market demand, good financial management, and the capacity to grow their enterprises.
In addition to the applicants, the team met with five former entrepreneurs – all of who had businesses that are performing well. One of the former grantees agreed to produce and ship another 100 scarves for HERA UK. Another former grantee has opened a new market for her products in Tbilisi and two others are selling their products internationally. From one of HERA's partners, the team also learned that one of the former grantees, a single mother, who had suffered extreme violence and was supporting her children and parents, was continuing her bakery business and had received a fellowship to continue her university education.
In addition, to meeting with past and current grantees, the team met with three local NGO partners, including the Armenia General Benevolent Union (AGBU), the Homeland Development Initiative Foundation (HDIF), and Caritas. One of the partners, HDIF subsequently opened a new market for one of this year’s grantees; and AGBU and Caritas are providing ongoing support to the grantees that they recommended to HERA. Their collaboration is making a serious difference to advertising the program widely, helping HERA to select ventures, and providing needed support to help the ventures grow their businesses.
As promised to our partners and former grantees, Sonia and Lynellyn organized three entrepreneurship and networking workshops that brought together 12 women entrepreneurs in Gyumri, two entrepreneur owners in Dilijan; and ten in Yerevan. Through Caritas, the Government Employment office, offered to send many more women to the networking event in Gyumri but since the team had promised to give current grantees some serious networking opportunities, they limited outside participation to five for this round. However, there clearly is a demand for networking and entrepreneurship training events. One woman travelled over two hours by mountain roads at night to meet with the team in Dilijan. At the other two events, several women travelled an hour or more away to attend. Given this demand and commitment, the HERA volunteers discussed the idea of collaborating with the NGO partners to organize more such events in the future.
To meet with all the grantees this year, the two HERA France Association volunteers travelled some 288 kilometers, north-south from Koghb to Yeghegnadzor, and covered many more kilometers west to east to reach ventures close to Armenia’s western border with Turkey and to its eastern border with Azerbaijan. The team benefitted from an excellent driver and a translator, two Armenian men, who refused to increase their rates from last year (but clearly covered more ventures and kilometers). They were very proud of the women’s ventures; and kindly encouraged and championed all owners along the way. It was very hard for the team to turn down any of the ventures. Thus, the France Association funded more in Armenia this year than ever – partly by keeping assessment costs below 30% so as to allocate more funds to the ventures. The average grant size of Euro 453 per venture is small but the potential impact large. As one of the NGO partners wrote the team recently, “Love what you guys do!” Working in Armenia is extremely gratifying because the women entrepreneurs themselves want to make a difference not only for themselves but also their families and communities.
In looking ahead, other HERA France Association teams will soon travel to Ukraine and Moldova and at time of writing, Nico Nissen and Elise Do are assessing ventures in the Republic of Georgia. Meanwhile the UK team is organizing a networking picnic and monthly entrepreneurship seminars for this year’s and former HERA students in the UK.
In organizing HERA’s own new social enterprises, we assess the demand to determine who can most benefit from HERA’s entrepreneurship training, mentoring and grants. All women survivors of trafficking, violence, and exploitation, and young women at risk of trafficking are not the same -- even those originating from or settling in the same country. They vary from young women at the start of their careers, who have little formal education and work experience to those who have completed MBAs and other advanced degrees and training. Often, they have faced poverty, but others, especially refugees and displaced women, may have been well off in their earlier lives. The women also vary from those who have already launched successful ventures to those who are still uncertain of their career plans.
In designing our own “products”, HERA needs to respond and adapt to the local demand. This requires both on-the-ground research and investigation and often, trialing a small pilot first. To address the needs of a given market, we work with established local partners and collaborate closely with them. In some places, including the UK, Georgia, Moldova, and Armenia, we have established very good, long term partnerships. In others, such as the US, Ukraine, and France, we are still developing a track record and proving to our partners that we can contribute to their work as well.
For our entrepreneurship training, HERA has developed two distinct models. Our 17+ training programs for 518 women in eight countries, to date, reflect one of these two models and in a few cases, a mix of the two. The first model, the “business school model”, provides intensive classroom-based, entrepreneurship training at an established university (Imperial, Sciences Po, Seattle, and IESEG). The training is conducted by local business school professors and trainers in the predominant language of the country. This model is most relevant for young aspiring entrepreneurs, who have not yet launched their venture. They may have a concept for a venture but are still assessing and determining their exact career plans.
The second model, an “after hours for working woman”, is usually held for women who are poised to launch a venture or have an established business that they are ready to scale up further. These women, already employed either part- or full-time, have work experience in the local economy. The training, focusing on specific knowledge about the local market, may be provided through a mixture of translation and the local language. We bring in our own teams of trainers and assessors and invite local established women entrepreneurs to share their experiences. This model of training has taken place in varied settings, including a refugee/IDP camp, NGO, bilateral aid, consulting firm, orphanage, and universities. The women, who have attended such trainings, have ranged in age from 16-60. The majority are in their late 20s to late 40s, a key time for many women entrepreneurs worldwide.
With either model, women benefit from gaining access to a wider professional network, sharing knowledge, and from the mentoring or coaching that often ensues. With the “after hours” model, coaching and mentoring are often informal and organized by the women themselves. HERA has also developed the “after hours” model not only to respond to the women’s work schedules but also, to increase and encourage more women who can benefit from our grants program. This training has extended the benefits of our grants’ program through sharing of new technologies, marketing techniques, and financial/cost analysis. In Armenia, Ukraine, and Moldova, women with established ventures are also helping those launching new ones.
Recent developments in London, New York and the international grants program this past quarter point to the critical importance of choosing the model and refining our operations to respond best to the local demand. We have gained an increased appreciation of our local partners and their commitment. Without their help and input, women’s entrepreneurship to counter trafficking would not be a reality.
In London, for this year’s recruitment, Sarah Videau, our program director, has reached out to 19 counter trafficking charities, including Medaille Trust, NIA, Caritas Bakita Project, Helen Bamber Foundation, Human Trafficking Foundation, Catholic Workers Farm and Stop the Traffik, to recruit a class of 25 women. For the first time, we are holding the three-week training at Imperial College London’s White City campus. As this new campus is being furnished, this year’s class will be smaller than in previous years. HERA has benefitted greatly from the support of Provost and Vice President, Professor Maggie J. Dallman, OBE and we are helping to spearhead the university’s commitment to engage in the wider community (including those affected by the fire in Grenfell Tower). This year’s program, to be held in July, will be directed by Filipa Figueira, an economics professor from University College London.
In NYC, a HERA team collaborated with Restore, a leading counter trafficking NGO, to develop a “business school” entrepreneurship training for trafficked women survivors at Columbia Business School. We also reached out to Catholic Charities to recruit young refugee women, who had similar experiences of violence and exploitation. Although we originally expected to hold this classroom-based training this July, Restore’s current client group has an average age of 38. Most do not speak English, are working full or part time and cannot afford time off work. Restore already provides a year-long, employment readiness training so some of our classroom-based training would have been repetitive. We offered to design an “after-hours” program; however, Restore and HERA committed to holding this program at Columbia; and Restore, to expanding their own network and outreach to a broader group of young women trafficked in and to NYC. Our final, joint decision is that we will take the time to develop the program well and based on CBS’s availability, aim for July 2019.
The international grants program has greatly benefitted from many local partners in this year’s Annual Competition. The active outreach of Ecaterina Schilling in Ukraine and engagement of several other assessors with established relationships in Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova has led to 125 grant applications from Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Eight international HERA assessors will review and score every application. From July to the end of September, four teams of two assessors each will visit the top scored applications on the ground. Former grantees, Anna Hovhannisyan and Gayane Simonyan in Armenia and Tatiana Policarpova in Ukraine organized seminars for local women entrepreneurs to apply to this year’s program. Several NGOs, including AGBU, HDIF, and Luys Foundations in Armenia, REAP and CTC in Georgia, and Fermerieul du Sud in Moldova, recruited applicants for the 2018 Competition, our sixth to date and ninth international grants round. By providing “after hours” entrepreneurship training sessions for 12 women in Armenia, 57 in Moldova, and 27 in Ukraine, we are also generating more interest and applications for the international grants program, helping to develop new businesses and products and services, and strengthening local networks and markets.
By providing the appropriate entrepreneurship training model to the target population, HERA’s training, mentoring, and grants are yielding outcomes. By 2017, we had followed up on 81% of the ventures funded from 2010 - 2016. We found that 93% have been sustained, including 63% that were successful in providing employment and opportunities for young women; and 14%, highly successful in growing their business operations 10% or more. Tracking our 2017 UK classroom-based training, we have found that the majority are furthering their careers. Those without asylum status are gaining knowledge online and/or attending our monthly seminars. One woman has gained a fellowship to study at the SOAS (University of London), another has been accepted into management and finance programs at Bristol and SOAS, and a third has registered and opened her own counter trafficking NGO in Nigeria.
We could not deliver these results without the generous in kind and financial support of many individuals. HERA’s overhead and administrative rates continue to be low, less than 3%. To maintain such low rates and the trust and generosity of many private individuals, we must continue to be extremely cost effective. That means building and developing good collaborations on the ground and meeting the effective demand with the right intervention.
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