NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, June 6, 2005

A talk with Bpeace’s Toni Maloney on her group’s efforts to mentor small-business women from war-torn areas like Afghanistan
When women have an economic stake in their communities, they’ll have a stronger hand in shaping their communities and ultimately in promoting peace. That’s the main contention of the nonprofit group Business Council for Peace. It was formed in 2002, when a handful of American businesswomen attending the Global Peace Initiative of Women, a gathering of 700 religious and lay women in Geneva, Switzerland, decided that the best way to achieve a lasting peace was to help women in war-torn countries develop sustainable businesses.

Currently, Bpeace’s coalition of over 130 American women from the ranks of such companies as American Express, Citigroup, and Lehman Brothers support female entrepreneurs in Afghanistan and Rwanda, as well as Israeli and Palestinian women. Their mission is to provide the fledgling businesswomen with mentoring and training in the development of regional and global markets for their products and services.
Story found here.