By Suzi
Parker, Christian Science Monitor
Little Rock, Ark.
Toni Maloney has a theory: create jobs, create peace.
So far,
Ms. Maloney, the co-founder and CEO of BPeace, has a good track record.
The New
York-based nonprofit is a network of business professionals who volunteer their
skills to entrepreneurs in conflict-affected countries such as Afghanistan,
Rwanda, and this year, El Salvador.
“We all
operate in the belief that when people have a job, and they can provide for
their families, they have hope for the future,” Maloney says. “When they have
hope, they send their children to school, they can feed their families.”
A perfect
example is Zarghuna, a hair stylist in Afghanistan, who has had over 4,000
clients. When Bpeace started helping Zarghuna in May 2010, she had one salon.
Now she has four salons and 65 employees. She is currently in New York as an
apprenticeship with the hair salon and hair products company Bumble and bumble.
Zarghuna
is considered a Bpeace “Fast Runner,” an entrepreneur who has already started a
business and possesses the determination to grow his or her enterprise quickly.
In turn, these Fast Runners change their communities by employing people and
creating stability in unstable places.
“We look
for people who have been in business for a year and have five employees,”
Maloney says. “They have already demonstrated their business tenacity and
ability to grow. We want to make sure that the return on involvement has a good
chance of success.”
To date,
Fast Runners have created 1,872 jobs that support 12,859 family members.
Maloney,
who has a background in advertising and business, decided after the events of
Sept. 11, 2001, that business should have a role in peace building. Along with
other businesswomen, she helped start Bpeace in 2002. Funding for Bpeace comes
largely from fundraising, and 15 percent comes from the US State Department.
The group
now has 260 volunteers. Most are based in the United States, but there are also
others in Canada, Germany, El Salvador, and Pakistan.
The
volunteers offer pro bono business consulting on financial issues and marketing
strategies, as well as technical, customer service, and human resources advice.
“We’re
always looking to recruit members who want to invest their skills, and one of
the most important things is having a network,” Maloney says. “Someone may not
invest a significant amount of time but their network is the most important
thing that they bring.”
The
networks can help link an aspiring entrepreneur to companies and business
leaders in their respective areas. For instance, one Afghan woman who is an
electrical contractor is apprenticing at a school in the US. The connection was
made by a volunteer who is a professional photographer.
