Women Entrepreneurs Learn™
Women’s Cottage Industries Program, a community-based economic development program, includes a structured technical assistance and educational component for women artisans called Women Entrepreneurs (WE)™ Learn. WE Learn™ strives to address the critical need to generate income for the nearly 50% of New Mexico’s families who exist on less than $10,000 per year.
The WE Learn™ program meets emerging women entrepreneurs where they’re at with mentoring and technical assistance. The first step in all our mentoring-related activities is dialogue — listening to our grantees and their challenges, successes, and needs as they develop and grow their cottage industries at the grassroots level. Over the years, a short-course and a toolkit, now in development, have emerged out of these conversations and ad hoc trainings, which address the fundamentals of owning and managing a small business within a nonprofit context.
Both the short-course and the “Toolkit on a Shoestring” provide practical information in a way that is easy to understand on organizational development; business planning; fundraising; product assessment and development; merchandising and marketing; basic bookkeeping; product outlets and communication tools.
WE Learn™ helps women entrepreneurs develop home-based businesses, build and strengthen their organizational structures, and bring forth their inherent creativity and leadership.
