For many years I have been involved with helping both business and community non-profits. Besides
leading women’s business groups and mentoring professional women, I recently spent 18 months in
Mexico. During this time, we sponsored financially and volunteered at a Headstart type school for
disadvantaged children. What a pleasure it was to support these poor families in their quest to get a
good education for their children and give them an excellent start in life. This would never have been
available to them under the general Mexican education system.
Working with Terry, Karel and the team at IEEW’s PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® program has been equally
pleasurable and rewarding. Knowing that we are making a major difference in the lives of these
professional women and contributing in some way to the growth of their countries is one of the best
feelings in the world. All this business experience can finally be put to use in a meaningful way helping
research, plan and build their companies and NGOs.
While working with dear Anna from Rwanda, I needed to do significant research to update my knowledge
of her country and was reminded, of course, of the terrible genocide that took place in the 1990s. She
had to flee to Uganda to escape the war and is now home to be part of the new growth in Rwanda.
The research also reminded me that seeing Diane Fossey’s Gorillas in the Mist was high on my bucket
list. Anna wants us to stay with her and her family when we make the trip – what a lovely surprise. It
was gratifying to feel Anna’s passion about her business and her wish to help her community succeed
after so many years of sadness.
Fatemah from Afghanistan was also one of my mentees. Another country with a war story that we had
all watched unfold on TV over the last 10 years. They are still trying to build a country where women
are “half the sky” and are fighting for human rights for themselves and their families. Women business
owners will be responsible in great part for this growth and the success of their government’s plans for
the future. Fatemah was just starting out in her business and was in the position many of us were
years ago when we first established our companies during times that were not very generous (to say the
least) to US women business owners. Her challenges were similar; sharing experiences, learning,
planning and marketing strategies with her at this early stage will surely contribute to her success.
Giving, and giving back, should not be dependent on reciprocity. But with PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS® we are
rewarded in many ways: feeling the passion and being part of the success of these women
professionals are just two of them. For me, the main one is a good feeling that I am helping these
women overcome the challenges and barriers I experienced 25 years ago when I started my business.
Thank you to Dr. Terry Neese for having the vision to start the organization and allowing us to be part of it.
Renée Jones, SCG Group, at a non-profit event in Philadelphia in early 2015
