Kelley School of Business teaches, encourages women entrepreneurs in Malaysia

IU’s Kelley School of Business is reaching across oceans to educate different kinds of students.

These students are the women of Malaysia.

Since 2010, the Kelley School’s Institute of International Business has been working in conjunction with other organizations to help women in Malaysia overcome their fears and become more financially capable.

The pilot project in the Global Women’s Economic Empowerment initiative helps train these women to build and sustain their own microventures.

The greatest challenge women face in starting their own ventures is insufficient confidence rooted in a lack of awareness, Brenda Bailey-Hughes, Kelley School of Business communications lecturer, said.

To help alleviate that problem, the Institute’s managing director LaVonn Schlegel said GWEE gives the women microloans, which are then reinvested in their family and the community.

A microloan is a small, short-term loan usually given to an entrepreneur in an impoverished country.

“We know that by focusing on women that we can make a difference at the most micro-level, the family, and that it will grow out exponentially,” Schlegel said.

The project is divided into three phases, said Tamuna Gabilaia, executive director and chief of staff at the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations, the organization Kelley has partnered with for the project.

The first was to develop a plan for training. The second involved training close to 50 selected volunteers who would later be training participants.

Gabilaia said she hopes to start the third phase of training the participants within the next few months.

Participants receive training during a course of seven weeks with three hours of personal guidance each week. The women will gain skills such as developing a business idea, raising and managing funds and marketing one’s venture.

The program involves video training and tools designed by Kelley lecturer Mark Long and Bailey-Hughes, as well as a deep understanding of the country’s market.

“Most of the training out there is very short-term, like one or two days,” Gabilaia said. “Women actually do not learn much, and they wonder what’s next.

“The actual training, the transfer of knowledge, is only 30 percent. So the way we designed this project is unique.”

Schlegel said the program will hopefully be expanded to other countries, such as Thailand, Peru, Indonesia and countries in Africa.

Ultimately, one of the program’s main goals is that participants develop support networks among themselves.

“What we hope will happen with this training is that you’re building this network of other women,” Bailey-Hughes said. “These become the women that I call when I’ve had a bad customer interaction and I just need to vent and get feedback. These are the women I’m friends with, and I can call and talk with them.”