Peace Through Business: How Women in Rwanda and Afghanistan Are Rebuilding Nations Through Entrepreneurship
In this special episode of On the Brink with Andi Simon, I continue our series spotlighting Peace Through Business, a remarkable program empowering women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan, Rwanda, and beyond. The stories are profound, the impact undeniable, and the lessons universal: when women rise, entire nations begin to heal and prosper.
As a corporate anthropologist and Blue Ocean Strategist, I want to remind us at the start:
“When you invest in a woman entrepreneur, you invest in her family, her community, and her country’s future.”
This conversation brings together Monica Smiley, publisher of Enterprising Women Magazine; Chantal Munanayire, Peace Through Business Program Director for Rwanda, Uganda, Canada, and the UK; and Manisha Wafeq, who leads the Afghanistan initiative. Each share not only how the program works but how it transforms lives — economically, socially, and spiritually.
Creating Peace Through Business
When Enterprising Women Foundation assumed stewardship of Peace Through Business in 2024, it became the natural extension of its mission to empower women globally.
Monica Smiley explains that Enterprising Women began 25 years ago as a publication to celebrate women entrepreneurs but soon evolved into a global movement. “About 12 years ago,” she recalls, “we launched the Enterprising Women Foundation to mentor girls in underserved communities across 30 U.S. cities. Then, by inheriting the Peace Through Business program, we broadened our mission — from helping American women entrepreneurs to supporting women rebuilding countries after conflict.”
Originally founded by Dr. Terry Neese at the request of former First Lady Laura Bush, the Peace Through Business program provides an intensive education in entrepreneurship, leadership, and civic responsibility. It began in Afghanistan, where women were often excluded from public life, and expanded into Rwanda, a country rebuilding its social and economic fabric after the 1994 genocide.
Monica remembers traveling to Rwanda in 2014 and again in 2018. “The transformation in just four years was stunning,” she says. “There were new hotels, a thriving convention center, and a new sense of hope. Women who once dreamed of a single business now run two or three. They are not waiting to be rescued — they are building the future themselves.”
Chantal’s Journey: From Survivor to Mentor
Few embody that spirit more than Chantal Munanayire. A survivor of Rwanda’s genocide, Chantal rebuilt her life — and her country — one business at a time. In 2009, she broke barriers by opening the first woman-owned car repair and paint shop in Kigali, the capital city.
“When I began, I didn’t even know what a business plan was,” she says with a laugh. “I was passionate but directionless. Through Peace Through Business, I learned to plan, to lead, and to see my company as separate from myself. That gave me freedom — and power.”
Today, Chantal runs the program across several countries and has mentored hundreds of women. “The women who come to us are determined but often afraid,” she explains. “We teach them to turn that fear into focus. Once they succeed, they return to mentor others. That’s how we build a sisterhood.”
She shares stories of women who began as small vendors and now own supermarkets, or dairy farmers who built shopping centers. “When one woman thrives, she brings ten others along,” Chantal says. “That’s how you build a country.”
Education, Mentorship, and Advocacy
Peace Through Business unfolds in three powerful stages:
- Education– Ten weeks of in-country classes covering marketing, finance, leadership, and business planning.
- Leadership Development– A cultural and professional exchange in the U.S., where top graduates attend the Enterprising Women Conference to meet mentors and global leaders.
- Pay It Forward– Graduates return home to mentor others, advocate for policy reform, and expand the reach of women in leadership.
As Manisha Wafeq explains, “This is not a one-week seminar. It’s a life-changing journey. Our women become educators, activists, and community builders. They learn that business is not only about profit — it’s about peace. And after they graduate, they pay their knowledge forward to other women and join our alumni association.”
A Call to Action: Supporting Women Who Change the World
The episode closes with a powerful reflection from Monica and Andi: sustainable change requires participation. The program’s impact depends on mentorship, funding, and global awareness.
“This is a Blue Ocean in action,” says Andi Simon. “These women are not competing in crowded markets. They’re creating new ones — new industries, new opportunities, new futures.”
Monica adds, “We’ve given the Enterprising Women of the Year award to one Afghan and one Rwandan woman annually for nearly two decades. Seeing them stand on stage in front of hundreds of cheering peers brings me to tears every time. But we need more hands and hearts to keep the program thriving.”
Every contribution — financial or personal — helps sustain the work. Donations go directly to scholarships, training, and travel for participants. Mentors provide guidance and connection, bridging continents through compassion and shared purpose.
To learn more or contribute, visit EnterprisingWomenFoundation.org.
Why These Stories Matter
For Andi Simon, this episode isn’t just another interview — it’s a reflection of what anthropology teaches us about change: that transformation begins when people reimagine what’s possible.
“Change happens,” Andi concludes, “when we stop waiting for permission and start creating possibilities. These women are doing exactly that. They’re rewriting the story of what it means to lead, to heal, and to build peace through business.”
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Andi Simon 00:00:02 Welcome to On the Brink with Andi Simon. Hi, I’m Andi Simon, and as you know, my job is to get you off the brink. And I’d like to do that by helping you listen to other people and their stories, to understand how they have taken their observations and turn them into innovations, taking the challenges and turn them into opportunities, seeing things that look like problems and made them into enormous possibilities. And you can as well. Today, I want you to listen carefully to the second in our webinar series about peace through business. This is a program I was introduced to by Monica Smiley, and I’ll introduce Monica in a moment. And Manizha Wafeq, who has been running this program for Afghanistan. And today we’re going to hear from Chad till Monday so they can give you an idea about how women in countries like Afghanistan and Rwanda have taken the the bull by the horn and started to transform the role women can play there through business. If you did not see our first webinar, I will put a link into this one at the end so that you can link back to it, but you can certainly see it both on our website.
Andi Simon 00:01:15 www.simonassociates.net on enterprising women as well, and we’ll tell you where you can make your contributions that I’m sure you’re going to want to make. Or find yourself a mentor and a mentee that you can begin to help as that you really have to understand this is not about me. It’s about the bigger we and how women are looking for help from all of the sisterhood that can participate. Let me first begin by introducing Monica Smiley. I love Monica Smiley, and what she’s doing is amazing and inspires us. But Monica is a wonderful editor and publisher of Enterprising Women, a national and now global magazine that she and her team launched in May of 2000 to provide a strong voice for women entrepreneurs. I attended my first Enterprising Women conference last year and I was just blown away. It was just full of the most amazing women who are transforming business both through purpose but also through innovative ways of running businesses. They just see things differently. Mark is also the president and founder of Enterprising Women Foundation, which is managing the Peace Through Business program.
Andi Simon 00:02:25 And she’ll tell you a little bit more about it. She’ll tell you a little bit more about that. Doctor Terry Nice, who founded this? And then we’ll learn from Chantal about what it’s like to go through it, and the others who are going through it with her and have been there before. And then Manisha is going to talk about the program itself, so you can get a good feel for the ten week multiple time program and how it really is not just a gig. It’s really fascinating. Monica, thank you for joining us today. And thank you for bringing these wonderful women here. Tell us about Monica and enterprising women and peace through business. Okay, great.
Monica Smiley 00:03:00 Wonderful. Well thank you Andi. We’re thrilled to be here and happy to have an opportunity to share the story with your listeners. So, as you mentioned, you know, enterprising women started 25 years ago with Enterprising Women magazine. We just celebrated our 25th anniversary in 2025. So thrilled about that. But about 12 years ago, we started a sister nonprofit called the Enterprising Women Foundation.
Monica Smiley 00:03:25 And some of your listeners may know about our Young Enterprising Women program that we’ve been hosting this year in 30 cities across the country to mentor young women, at the high school level, primarily from underserved communities. So we have that wonderful program. But last year, we had an opportunity to, take over, if you will, the piece or business program as part of the Enterprising Women Foundation. my introduction came to it through my good friend Doctor Terry Nice, who founded the program. Next year will be 20 years ago, after First Lady Laura Bush reached out to her to go to Afghanistan and to work with her on creating a program that would help women entrepreneurs in Afghanistan start and grow businesses. So we began in Afghanistan, but a year later, we expanded the program into Rwanda. And Chantelle is here to really share more of that journey with you. I just want to share any I had the opportunity to travel twice to Rwanda with Terri and with the delegation in 2014, and then again in 2018. It really struck me how much the country had changed just in those four years.
Monica Smiley 00:04:42 I need to get back there again, because I’m sure Chantal could tell us there have been tremendous changes since that time. But just in that period of time we saw, Pink. Just incredible differences. A quick example. in 2008, I had an opportunity to mentor a woman from Rwanda who was starting a bed and breakfast there. And she was doing it because there were very few hotels at the time there. they really saw a need. she while she was in the US as part of our leadership program in the summer, she completely furnished the hotel. But 13 of everything. We shopped all over for 13 shower curtains and 13 bath mats and you name it. And, she took over my guest room and packed an incredible amount of luggage that went back to Rwanda with her. But the interesting thing was, just a few years later, when I was back there in 2018, they had since built a convention center and a Radisson hotel, and that opened up all sorts of opportunities for travel into the country, for event planners, for, you know, a whole new industry.
Monica Smiley 00:05:49 And one of the things I like to share when I think about the program in Rwanda is just the fact that the women there have been so entrepreneurial, and when they’re trained in the peace or business program, they may have one idea in mind to start a business. But once they have those core business skills and they see another opportunity in their country, they’ll start another business. And so many of our graduates have started multiple businesses, and Chantelle can share the story. We had a dairy farmer in the program. We were discussing her the other day who was mentored by a dairy farmer here in North Carolina. Well, within, I don’t know, a couple of years she had bought property and opened a strip mall that had a hair salon and had, you know, a little grocery store. And so there are hundreds of stories, I’m sure, like that. But, let me just share that we’ve seen the impact of this program, and I’m thrilled that you’re going to hear directly from Chantal about not only the progress we’ve made in Rwanda, but this last year.
Monica Smiley 00:06:53 There’s been tremendous growth as we’ve moved into Uganda, and we’ve also begun sharing the program virtually in a number of other countries in Canada, in the UK. She recently told us we have some students now from South Africa and the program, so we’re just delighted with the growth. And it’s really come from the passion that Chantal has. Whenever she tells us she wants to do something new, we’ll say, are you sure you have the time to do that? Can you take on one more, you know, class of students? And she always says yes. She just is so driven and so passionate about the program. So, you know, and I’ll turn it back to you, but we appreciate the offer.
Andi Simon 00:07:35 But but, you know, it’s interesting because I’m a blue ocean strategist and for, I don’t know, 20 years now, I’ve been I’ve done 500 workshops on the topic. And what this is is a blue ocean. You know, it’s not duplicative. It’s not competitive. It’s creating a whole new way.
Andi Simon 00:07:51 And the women who you’re working with see the world the same way. It isn’t about being another. It’s truly seeing a need and finding ways to make it happen. That is just inspirational. It’s fantastic. Let me introduce you to Chantal. You’re ready to say something, and I know I can’t wait to the listeners, and the viewers should know that Chantelle is a peace through business program director. Rwanda, Uganda, Canada and the UK a big part of the world. she was born in Rwanda and is a prominent Rwandan Canadian entrepreneur. She made history in 2009. You’re going to love this. As a first female owner of a car repair and paint shop in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Why not? You know, we need cars. They need to get repaired. Why not a woman doing it? And then she served as the inaugural female president of the Rwandan Garage Association for five years. I know some guys are going to shrug their shoulders and say, she did what? But I have a hunch she did it with passion and purpose and found, oh man, there’s an unmet need and I’m going to create a new way to do it.
Andi Simon 00:08:55 Chantal, thank you for joining us. Tell us about yourself and about this journey that you’ve been on. I know our listeners and our viewers are going to want to know more about both The Repair Shop, but also about your own program, please.
Chantal 00:09:09 Yeah. Thank you for having me. Yes. My story is also tied to PTB. before joining the program, I had already started my business, although it was after the the Rwanda was, healing from the genocide happened in 1994. So I survivor and in my community were rebuilding. Families were struggling to make food on table. So and women were difficult was difficult to run businesses also at the same time, being a mother and being a food on the table for those women. No women around and for the kids and the orphans. So for me as well. I started a business. It was out of, out of, passion. So. But running, business. honestly, I didn’t even know what was business, what I was doing. But when I started, I attended the program with through business.
Chantal 00:10:08 So, and that’s when I was, taking my my eyes was open. So, I learned something called business plan. I didn’t know what a about business plan is, but when I attended a business class, so it was my first, my first time. to to hear about that one. And, so. And then when I turned the program, I started down and directed my own business plan. So, that plan became my guideline. So. And since then, I used it, to stay focused on my goals. So, after also one year after attending the class, PTB, I became the country facilitator because I wanted to learn more and also to add my fellow to my fellow women. So, so but even though I was facing challenges, like any entrepreneur, the business plan helped me anticipate problems and avoid them before they affect my business. So BTB also taught me something that challenged everything how to separate myself from my business. So, in my business, I was, before I was running my business as the way I wanted, but after ten, the program.
Chantal 00:11:27 So, my business, I became like, I learned to know that I am an employee. The business has to pay me. If the business fails, it should not destroy me as a person. That’s mindset gave me freedom, discipline and resilience, and they have carried that lesson to us, not only for myself but also for the women I now mentor as the program director. So that’s how the program, PTB has played a big role in my in my life.
Andi Simon 00:11:58 The women in Rwanda and I suspect in South Africa and elsewhere. Tell me a little bit more about how do they find out about the program, and then how do we use their alumni to build a sisterhood? Give us a little more of the, I think, the living story, because I love your story, but I have a hunch there’s a multiplier here, and it’s bigger than just Chantal. Am I right?
Chantal 00:12:20 Yes. for for our program, we, we send out an application link where women has to apply. But what we do have to see if they are, they are they have a determination.
Chantal 00:12:33 If they have a vision, if they know, they know what they want, if they need these skills? If they want to learn. So they fill out the form, and you have to select those women who are eager to learn, who has a vision to expand their businesses and to grow, so they apply. Then we have to choose, those who are like 25 women in each country so that we can be able to accommodate them and help them. So we run the program for the ten weeks in the in each country, and we do ten weeks and twice a week, Tuesdays and Fridays. So after the, the, the, the, the training of ten weeks, they have to write their business plans where they do the presentations. And also we selected the best ones to go to the US for the leadership development and also to meet other women in the in the annual conference of the Enterprising Women Foundation. So learning and underwriting their business plans. It’s it’s it’s like, it helps them, see the what the the the projections of their businesses and see how they can grow their businesses and expand.
Andi Simon 00:13:45 One of the things that I’ve learned over the years, we used to run a program at Washington University called the Simon Initiative for entrepreneurship, and I learned a lot about the entrepreneurs who were funding their businesses out of revenue as opposed to finding funding. Are they are there funding sources in Rwanda that people can tap into banks or other kinds of investors, or do they basically grow their business out of good revenue?
Chantal 00:14:11 the they’re still struggling with the finances. They have, still have, lacking the, the resources or enough capital, start up capital to start their business. They are dreaming of so and also the banks, we are still struggling with the, the loans, the, the interest rate, which is very high, but with the, with the. Yes, but with the, the partnership with the, the government, they have put the setup in incentives to help women access to or to to a loans with the low interest rate. That’s where our I really appreciate our government. because we know we have the majority of the members of parliament in the parliament.
Chantal 00:14:49 So they are decision makers. So, they have, helped women to, those who wants to start a business to access to finance with the low interest rate. So that’s why you see our country, country’s the economy is booming because of women entrepreneurs in Rwanda.
Andi Simon 00:15:07 And the economy is booming with women in government. helping you? Yeah, there’s an alignment there. They understand it. It isn’t a competition, but it’s a creative process to help each other rise together.
Monica Smiley 00:15:21 And it’s.
Chantal 00:15:22 A.
Monica Smiley 00:15:23 Few countries in the world with the majority women. no. Yeah. In the, in Parliament, which is, as you know, very unusual.
Andi Simon 00:15:31 and but it has a very unusual history as well. And and I think the women have risen both in business and government. I was curious, you said something earlier, and the work life of of a woman is always a challenge. Is there family that help with raising the children? Is there something in Rwanda that’s shareable that you can help us understand how you can grow a business running the auto repair and still have a family and make that work in some fashion? Or is it a challenge there like it is everywhere here?
Chantal 00:16:03 Yeah, it’s like everywhere.
Chantal 00:16:06 you have to compromise in the families when like, woman is going to, to start a business. So, the husband should allow the wife to, to go and have business and also stay home and, and they arrange everything at home when they, they the wife is going to, to do, to do business. So here in Rwanda we are more advanced. So women are free to do the business, whatever they want to do. But of course, as mothers, you have responsibilities. You have to come back and also be a mother. Be a wife. Be a household. So. And are women from the petrol business, training program. So they, they know how to balance, their home life and also their business life because the, the every the to has to call to complete each other. Right. It is so Yeah it’s everywhere. But we have support from the the community and, and also in our culture. Women always and the husband, they have to compromise and wait on their projections and they and the and the and the future of they have their, their house and and the business.
Andi Simon 00:17:14 Is it stigmatized for a woman to be in business or is it encouraged and celebrated?
Chantal 00:17:21 Of course, it’s encouraged and is celebrated because some women have a fear, fear to start a business. Once they don’t, they don’t know. They don’t have business skills. So, So once they achieve something, they have to be celebrated. Of course they are celebrated. Once they achieve their goals and do business and successfully. So that’s what I encourage women doing. The joining of PTB class. So once they come, I encourage them to, reach out to their goals, be successful for themselves, for their communities and for the country. Once they succeed, of course, they are celebrated. There’s a place for themselves, for the achievement. Become confident in their resilience and determination. So that has to be celebrated. And even this business doesn’t fail. if business is their affair also. they they they should not be failing. like losers. They should feel like once they fail, they can stand up and do it again.
Andi Simon 00:18:22 Yes.
Chantal 00:18:23 Well, you know.
Andi Simon 00:18:24 If you haven’t failed, then you’re not worth anything until the next one. It’s hard to figure it all out, but I do think you’re telling us something extremely important that in Rwanda, perhaps we can all begin to see how women can play an extraordinarily important role in building businesses for themselves and their communities and the country itself. any last thoughts or I’m going to ask, many should talk a little bit more about the program for our our audience. Any less thoughts and any anything you can share with us about a future? Chantal.
Chantal 00:19:01 Oh, I thought you were asking us. Oh, yeah. yes. for the future is to encourage more women to attend our peace Through business program because they have seen the impact the peace through business has played in our in our community, in the, in our country and also globally because they have some stories about how peace through business women like from Canada has. gained confidence to penetrate the Canadian market as immigrants. The same as in the UK.
Chantal 00:19:31 So, having been through business. in the future, I encourage, the, the supporters and the donors to help because those women who are coming to, to attend our program, we have seen the impact and the the journey is long. So we have like, I can I can tell you the story about what, a lady from, from, from Canada. She, she attended our PTB program, and this was a she got the opportunity to, travel and attended the Enterprise Community Foundation is a new conference in the in the United States. So they are connected with the a business man woman. She runs a successful socks company. So Diane, she’s called Diane was. And it was an opportunity as a board stepped forward. So she says she secured a franchise partnership and today she’s selling those socks in Canada. Wow. This is one example. So another example is a lady called, Anita. Anita. She she she graduated her through business, and she was, selling, medical equipment. So when she traveled to, to, to the United States, she has met, a mentor called, she was called.
Chantal 00:20:52 Let me see. Cathy Cruzan. So Cathy Cruzan mentored her. And when she came back and, she started, she her business grew. And now she has a hospital with the 50 beds. yes. Helping delivering babies. So, the the her hospital. Now she has opened another hospital in the Northern Province. The second one. So that was the successful story where we can share with everyone who wants to join our program and also wants to support it because they are changing, lives or people not for business, also for changing lives of people around them.
Andi Simon 00:21:38 You know, it would be if you hadn’t shared a story like that, it would be hard to imagine what actually can happen and what the big multipliers are. Because you’re right, this isn’t just a business for her. How? This is a whole transformation of the communities in which they’re serving. What an exciting story to share. I’m going to I’m going to say pause for a moment, and I’m going to ask them initially to share with our audiences how the program actually came together.
Andi Simon 00:22:05 How does it work? So we mentioned that it’s not a gig. You don’t come for a weekend and leave a transforming woman. What do we what does the program actually do?
Multiple Speakers 00:22:17 All right. Andi. So as, Chantal explained after we announced the program and we, get applications, usually, 3 or 4 times, applications more than what we can absorb in each of our cohorts. we have to screen them. We have to verify their businesses, physically as well, and then make a selection of 30 to 35 women owned businesses in each of the countries to go through our program. The program, is has three components. The first component is the infantry training. And our in-country training usually is 8 to 10 weeks. 8 to 10 weeks, include teaching them how to write their business plan, as Chantal was explaining, which had her and helps all of the women on women business owners that go through the program, and through writing their business plan. We teach them marketing, management, digital marketing, digital sales, financial management, operations management, human resource management, laws and regulations in in those countries, as well as laws and regulations around taxation, around business and investment.
Multiple Speakers 00:23:37 So they are very well aware of what, environment they’re working in and, and what laws they should observe before really getting into any trouble. the second component of the program is leadership development. leadership development is, traveling to the United States. fortunately, when things were much better before Covid, we had a big, big group of Afghans and Rwandans. 15 from each country traveling to the US. which was also a great opportunity for each of them to, have that, cultural exchange and and meeting sisters from the other part of the world. and learn from each other. but after Covid, things changed, of course. And of course, after Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan as well. Things changed. so now we only bring, Rwandan and some other women from other countries, but some of Afghan women who are in the US and now running their businesses here to this, exposure, trip, I would say, where they come to the US, participate in a conference the last two years and the Enterprising women, annual conference, which is a tremendous exposure for them to meet, American business owners, a women business owners, get mentored by them, learn from them.
Multiple Speakers 00:25:02 I mean, what that exposure can do to them. And Andi is, is, is is phenomenal. And and out of words that I could explain. really, it changes their mindset, approach, attitude and and they go back with a, with a ton of, experience with that exposure. So that’s a very important component of the program. And then the third component of the program is paid forward, when we help them get organized and the alumni association, help us with the other classes when we teach, once they graduate, mentor other women, be part of their community. and as well as, most importantly, doing policy advocacy. So we encourage them to be leaders and do policy advocacy in their countries.
Andi Simon 00:25:55 Don’t you just love what you just said? I mean, it is an amazing program that you developed and it is not a gig. It is a a transformative program that takes in talented women and gives them hope that they can turn their ideas into amazing businesses and transform the communities in which they live and and want to help others.
Andi Simon 00:26:16 This is really wonderful. Monica, I think we’re about ready for you to wrap us up, and I do think this is a good call to action here for our listeners and our viewers. This isn’t just about learning about this. This is about becoming engaged with it. Your thoughts?
Monica Smiley 00:26:31 Yeah, absolutely. Well, and Andi, let me just share that. You know, we’ve been hosting the Enterprising Women of the year awards conference for 23 years now. And every year for the last close to 20 years, we’ve given one Afghan and one Rwandan woman, the Enterprising Woman of the year award. We’ve done it in the summer at their Leadership Institute. So this last year in Nashville was the first time we had a delegation of 22 women from the Peace or Business program in Nashville for the Enterprising Women Conference. We were able to actually present the Enterprising Women of the year award on stage in front of a ballroom of cheering women. And it was it was just incredible. So, you know, we’re excited to continue with that partnership.
Monica Smiley 00:27:16 We think it’s, you know, such as you said, such a wonderful opportunity for the women in the enterprising women community to meet these women, for them to experience and hear about best practices in the US. it’s just such a natural fit and such a great partnership. we see so much growth in the piece or business program. But, you know, as you mentioned, funding is challenging. And I think this year is particularly challenging with the economic environment right now, the tariffs, so many things going on. that it’s not the easiest time to raise funds. and there have been some cutbacks with the Trump administration that have impacted USAID and other organizations. So, you know, we really need particularly the women’s business community, to come out and support this program to understand how incredibly vital it is. What a difference it’s making. we’re happy to talk with anyone who’s interested in getting engaged at any level, to be an E mentor, to participate in the conference as a mentor. I know, Andi, you stepped up and did that, at the National conference and had an opportunity to be a mentor, and it’s just so meaningful to do that.
Monica Smiley 00:28:31 and then, of course, we need those funds. Manisha and Chantal are paid program directors. We want to keep giving them that salary. That’s critical. all the work that we do is so important, and it has to be funded. we’ve run, business competitions. Manisha has had a competition in Afghanistan for years that the women compete, and they do receive grants as a result of it. So, you know, there are many ways that the funding is used or a very lean organization. all the dollars go directly into the program. And, as you mentioned, the easiest way to donate is just through Enterprising Women Foundation. Org. You’ll see their business prominently on the website, and you can click that link and give any amount that you’re able to. And we appreciate this opportunity to to share it with a wider audience of your listeners. Andi, thank you so much for the opportunity.
Andi Simon 00:29:28 Well, Monica, it’s truly been a marvelous conversation. Chantal and Manisha, it’s just wonderful to know you and to know what you are doing and the impact it’s having.
Andi Simon 00:29:38 it is it is very purposeful. But but you matter. And this organization does to so many women in so many ways. So for our audience, thank you for coming. I’d like to give a little thing here. We were ranked 18th out of the top 100 podcasts on the topic of change. I’m a corporate anthropologist, and I specialize in helping organizations change. But think about it. I can say that. But these women are doing it. I do it too. But this is really amazing how we can help people see, feel and think in new ways and take their observations, turn them into innovations with enormous impact. And I’m just honored to have been able to do it. Monica, so thank you for giving me a chance to tell your story. I wasn’t quite sure how to be of help here with the third webinar is going to be Monica and Doctor Terri Meeks telling you a little bit more about the origins and the development and the future. And because everything that we have here is to lead forward and not simply to celebrate what’s been achieved.
Andi Simon 00:30:37 I don’t think we’re ever going to arrive and the journey is as important as the destination. Thank you ladies, thank you, thank you. And I will say goodbye to everyone who’s come today. Please send you to send to me all kinds of cool people to interview. I think we’ve done 407 of these. And I still get a, a high out of our opportunity to tell people’s stories and to share it with others. Thank you. And I’ll say goodbye by now.
tell people’s stories and to share it with others. Thank you. And I’ll say goodbye by now.
