Women's Initiative for Self-Employment

Women's Initiative for Self-Employment provides a one-stop shop where high potential, lower-income women receive training to start and grow their business. The business management training, technical assistance, and financial services they provide in English and Spanish is designed to improve the quality of life for the women served, as well as their families and communities.

100% of Women’s Initiative participants are low-income women at program entry, 78% are women of color, 46% speak Spanish as their first or only language, 29% are single parents, and over 15% have a disability.

“Self-employment is not for everyone,” says Karuna Jaggar of Women’s Initiative.  “However, the self-employment path has several appealing attributes for our participants.”  The workday flexibility, scheduling around children’s needs, and being able to work around one’s own physical levels of energy are all reasons why self-employment appeals to those with such stretched lives.  Many of these women, also face additional barriers to traditional employment based on perceptions of there disability, ethnicity, and language.  Some participants have survived abusive domestic situations and have learned to thrive in the supportive surroundings of Women’s Initiative.

In the program, mentors demonstrate that each choice we make causes a ripple effect in both our own life and the lives of our families.  They stress that if you follow your dreams and work really hard, your dreams for you and your family will come true.  Each successful Women’s Initiative graduate becomes a role model to inspire others, and that ripple effect continues to grow more powerful.

According to Jaggar, every dollar invested into the program returns $30 to the local community through business development, job creation, and welfare savings.  Women’s Initiative has created over 1,600 new business ventures and, on average, doubles the income of participants with in 18 months of program enrollment.

A new client typically enters with industry specific experience and the germ of a business idea.  The first step is to sit down with the client and work out a preliminary business plan.  This results in an action report for the client to consider.  Is this really what she wants, really the direction in which she is willing to work?  If so, then the client enrolls in the 11-week business management class taught by the award-winning Women’s Initiative faculty.  The class covers many topics one would expect:   Financial management, marketing, and building a business. “However, for some clients, the topics of self-empowerment and fear of success are equally important,” says Jaggar.

Women’s Initiative also has a self-funded loan program, thus, lending decisions are not bound by a bank’s underwriting department.  “Some of our participants may have two bankruptcies in their past, but we are still able to make a business loan,” says Jaggar.  The loans range from $1,000 to $25,000 and have an extremely high repayment rate.  “This is true relationship lending; the women know that if they do not repay the loans, funds may not be available for the next generation who need that access to capital.”

After graduation from the business management training class, Women’s Initiative offers continuing assistance through their Success Link program.

“Success Link helps our clients take their business to the next level,” says Jaggar.  “It provides on-going professional coaching, technical consultations, and professional networking and connecting events.”

Jaggar explains that part of class is access to power and connections.  At one connector event, a Women’s Initiative graduate met a Microsoft executive.  By the end of the night, the graduate had become a preferred vendor for Microsoft.  “That access to the power structure is what makes a difference in these women’s lives,” Jaggar says.

Success Link also offers speed mentoring events, peer advisory groups, seminars, and access to an IDA program.

Women’s Initiative strives to be sensitive to the needs of women with disabilities.  Walk-in centers are located on public transportation routes, and the organization works to make both programs and facilities accessible to people with disabilities.  Currently, 15% of participants have a disability and benefit from the Women’s Initiative business training.

The story of Women’s Initiative may best be represented by the words of a participant: “Somewhere between walking through the front door and graduation, I changed into someone who chooses to be successful.”


For more information please contact the Women's Initiative for Self-Employment at 510-287-3100.