Direct Selling Businesswomen Launch Initiative to Support Women Entrepreneurs

Admin   |   20 March, 2015   |   1164   |   3980

A group of businesswomen within the direct selling industry is coming together to bring entrepreneurial opportunities to women in developing countries.

Women United for Change is made up of direct selling entrepreneurs looking to leverage their own success to empower women worldwide. In its flagship effort, the group is partnering with Project Concern International (PCI), a nonprofit working in some of the poorest communities in Asia, Africa and the Americas. PCI’s initiatives are geared toward preventing disease and transforming communities through sustainable development.

Women United for Change is backing the organization’s global Women Empowered (WE) initiative, which invests in women as agents of economic and social change. Prior to this week’s official launch, the leaders of Women United for Change had already raised more than $100,000 in support of WE.

“The women in network marketing and direct sales have a great deal of influence and a strong desire to make a difference in the lives of others,” Sonia Stringer, a business coach and one of the founders of Women United for Change, shared in a statement. “We are women whose lives have been transformed through entrepreneurship, so it’s only fitting that we help women in need transform their lives by building businesses of their own.”

WE works within communities by forming self-managed and self-sustaining savings groups, which receive up to 18 months of in-depth training. As the women develop confidence and leadership skills, the training also supports them in starting and growing a micro-business.