Neese Spreads the Institute’s Message To OK Women’s Group
May 28th, 2009 Posted by adminTerry Neese, Founder & CEO of the Institute, spoke to an Oklahoma women’s group Thursday.
About 20 women attended the meeting, and Terry set the tone by directly relating to her audience, and with a smile.
“Women are remarkable, aren’t we?” Terry asked. “I mean we can do so many things; we can juggle 50 things at one time and get them all done appropriately.”
Then, the punch line:
“Give more than one job to a guy and bless his heart, it’s just really difficult for him to do it, isn’t it?”
After breaking the ice, Terry explained how the Institute was born and gave an overview of the Peace through Business® program. The women were enthralled by the stories Terry had to share - about the Institute’s students and her personal experiences, especially her trip to Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2007 and how it was such a defining moment in her life.
“I saw things that I never thought that I would ever see and left there with a whole new meaning for life, frankly, and a whole new commitment to help these women - brave women - who were really trying to rebuild their country.”
The Institute is now only months away from welcoming its Peace through Business®2009 students. The Institute will be hosting an International Women’s Economic Summit on Aug. 17 - 18.
“The International Women’s Economic Summit is where they will really focus on what can they do for their country,” Terry explained. “They’ve done in-country education, they have their business plan, they’re going through Leadership Development for a week, and now they’re going to focus on what can they do for their country.”
Terry’s speech ended with a question and answer section, where women were interested to find out what kind of businesses the Peace through Business® students have, and how are they able to operate in a country like Afghanistan, where women are so suppressed.
Most of these women owned their businesses before the Taliban, and they are just now starting to re-open their businesses, Terry said.
Students’ businesses run the gamut this year, from the traditional to the specialized. Examples include embroidery, ball-making and mobile-medical clinic.
