On Monday November 18th, a group of people who were attending the conference and I went to visit a yogurt and cheese shop. The woman (Tamamabu Lbad) who ran the business was a client of Microfund for Women. When I stepped into the shop, I was admittedly surprised at how much merchandise the woman sold on the shelves. There were olives and many different spices. In the refrigerator, there were yogurt containers piled together. The shop was located in the middle of the road and her other shop was further down. Meeting the woman, I saw how happy she was to be running her business; you could see how grateful she was to have gotten the micro loan. She was proud of how her business had grown. Stepping out of her shop and going back to the bus, I thought about how much passion this woman had and how much passion it took to run a business. This woman is a perfect example of how all successful entrepreneurs need to have a passion for their business. They need to be tenacious because they have to have the power to get back up when things go badly. When you enter her shop you know that she cares about her business and wants it to grow and prosper.
Attending the Women’s World Banking conference was an amazing experience that I wish to relive. It taught me that you have to really want something to make it happen. During the panels that were conducted at the conference, the speakers would speak with such determination to empower women and make them feel more important, one could tell that they believed in their cause and wanted it to come true. That would just reinforce how important it is to care about this cause. Empowering women is how society will prosper and grow. This meeting helped me see that empowering women has many different levels and there are different ways of helping women. Women can be empowered by creating financial institutions or focusing on women’s leadership. Meeting all these successful people opened my eyes to the many opportunities out there and hearing these people’s inspiring stories has inspired me to take more opportunities. I have recently interviewed with Syracuse University, which is something that I would not have previously done because I would have been too scared. These people are successful because they take opportunities and make them their own. I will no longer shy away from new things because they scare me. I have decided that I do not want to live in a bubble, returning back to the United States for me means that life is going to be filled with opportunities that I will act on.
Rosaisha Ozoria is one of two winners of the Women’s World Banking Founder’s Scholarship Award, supported by the NY Women Bond Club. The scholarship allowed Rosaisha to join the Women’s World Banking team in Amman, Jordan to attend the ‘Building Women-Focused Finance’ and participate in site visits exclusive to staff and network members.
