Entrepreneurship
Self-sustaining
From the start, the 10,000 Girls program required the girls themselves to be workers, stakeholders, decision-makers. Beginning from the bottom-up and not top-down (the program receives no governmental support whatsoever), 10,000 Girls could only continue if the participants themselves cared enough to contribute.
In October 2001 funding was critically needed. One of the girls saw on TV an American Girl Scout selling cookies. Why, this village girl from Senegal asked, couldn't we also sell cookies and juices door-to-door to raise money?In fact, the participants in 10,000 Girls could and did. From this humble start, two viable--profitable--business pursuits were launched:
- Celebration Baked Goods
- Celebration Sewing Workshop
- Work to ensure the economic sustainability of the 10,000 Girls program;
- Provide real-world business experience for the Young Women Entrepreneurs of Kaolack (Jeunes Filles Entrepreuneuses de Kaolack), a branch composed of girls who have been excluded from school.
So if these business pursuits are doing well, and the goal of the program is to be self-sustaining, why fund-raise?
Two reasons
First, the Educational program is growing at a pace that outstrips what the business division can currently support. From 20 to 1442 students in just six years. (Including the business division, 1467 participants in total).
But second, with some capital investment, the business division will be able to support the Educational program. How so? Because right now, demand for our goods and services exceeds what we can supply. We can solve our sustainability issues through growth. Not by cutting back on education, but by expanding our business pursuits.
Needs and Requests
We need an industrial kitchen and some related equipment. And so we ask for social venture capital.
From people who understand themselves as civic entrepreneurs, as diligent investors in humanity who demand a return on their contributions. Positive gains. Tangible results. Although a 501(c)(3) organization, we're seeking what amounts to investment. Money--mere thousands--to be spent on the equipment we need to grow.That growing business is Celebration. The young women who run it, the Jeunes Filles Entrepreuneuses de Kaolack (Young Women Entrepreneurs of Kaolack).
