Letter From the Executive Director of QEDC
I am usually hesitant to attend academic conferences, but I was told the Columbia Business School 2011 Social Enterprise Conference was worth the trek to Morningside Heights. So the day after my birthday (which I celebrated with copious amounts of red wine and good food at Domaine Wine Bar and Testaccio Ristorante in Long Island City), I got up early and was on campus by 7:45 a.m. Scanning the program, I saw that the luncheon keynote speaker was Leymah Gbowee. I recalled reading about her as a political activist from Liberia and wondered about her connection to social-enterprise ventures. Seconds later, the red light on my BlackBerry lit up with an email from CNN. She had just been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize!
I muddled through the academics and talking heads at the morning sessions. Smart and well-intentioned, but face it, they would be eaten alive at any Queens community board meeting. At noon, everyone rushed to the main hall. Ms. Gbowee strode onto the stage to tremendous applause. She won us over immediately by saying: “This was on my agenda before I was notified about the prize, and I am keeping to my schedule.” Then, she wondered out loud if she would still be able to buy street food in Ghana without too much media attention.
For the next 20 minutes, I — and, I suspect, each attendee — was transfixed by Ms. Gbowee's story. She grew up in Monrovia, Liberia's capital, with dreams of becoming a pediatrician, but the long and horrible civil war changed everything. A few years into the unrest, she was an unwed mother of three, with little education and no hope for the future. Her transformative moment came when she realized that the armed conflict was preventing her — and every woman — from climbing out of the abyss. Her plan was to reach out to women from every tribe, clan, and religion to protest the war and demand peace. Through persistent organizing, she convinced thousands of women that they had the power and therefore the strength to change the situation. It took many years and a great deal of personal sacrifice, but after more than a decade, her efforts contributed to ending to the conflict in Liberia.
It was awe-inspiring. Her simple suggestion to “stay focused” applies to any person or movement wanting to make a positive change. And by that she also meant ventures designed to help and assist people to transform their lives.
At our little social enterprise venture, the Entrepreneur Space, our clients are focused on building their businesses. And in partnership with Accion USA, a social-enterprise venture that provides funding, four of our clients recently received microloans averaging $8,000 each. Maybe not a lot of dough to a one-percent Wall Street tycoon, but enough for Sweet N Salty by Design to update its website; enough for Morris Kitchen to purchase new machinery; and enough for Samios Foods and Yolanda Pesto to buy containers and labeling equipment. Our clients had ideas, and now they are taking them to the next stage — and by doing so, they are hiring more people. From one can come many.
I cannot compare Ms. Gbowee's trials and tribulations to anything I — or any of our clients — experience as we transform our lives. But it is always important to be reminded of the power of the human spirit, the quest to do good, and the will to succeed in spite of insurmountable obstacles.
Seth Bornstein, Executive Director of QEDC
