In May, Harvard Business School Online announced its partnership with Empowered to Educate, Inc. for the fourth-annual Community Challenge. Over the last four months, dozens of HBS Online Community members collaborated to empower women across the globe.
This year’s inspiring goal was to create a growth package to help Empowered to Educate expand into new countries to spread the impact of its fellowship program for women educators.
Six HBS Online Community Chapters—Boston, Dubai, Istanbul, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and the Global Chapter—submitted proposals for executing this goal.
“It’s astounding to me how much work they put into these proposals,” said Constance Kane, executive director of Empowered to Educate, Inc. “It’s really impressive; absolutely remarkable.”
After a thorough and thoughtful review, the Empowered to Educate team named the Dubai Chapter the winner of this year’s Community Challenge.
Selecting the Dubai Chapter as the Winner
“When selecting a proposal, we wanted it to be actionable, to have sound reasoning embedded into it, to be evidence-based and practical, and to have a clear delivery plan,” Kane said. “The Dubai Chapter’s proposal really ticked all those boxes.”
The Dubai Chapter’s proposal focused on growth management, brand coherence, and cultural relevance. It provided Empowered to Educate with resources, including industry analysis, strategic partnership opportunities, and recommendations for continued expansion.
Empowered to Educate currently works exclusively in Ghana, Africa. The team is confident the Dubai Chapter’s proposal will help them expand into additional countries, starting with Jordan.
“They really understood our mission, identified a series of best practices, and have a solid team who can support our expansion into Jordan,” Kane said. “We’re very happy with that.”
The Dubai Chapter team consists of nine members from five countries: Yasin Kasirga, Randa Hanoun, Manal Rafique, Param Sivam, Karina Wieser, Daizy Neelofar Khan, Subir Kumar Sinah, Numan Al Khalidi, and Mohammed Adlani.
“From Jordan to UAE, Morocco to Canada, we came together, establishing a working rhythm, assigning tasks and deliverables followed by many video calls and peer review sessions with an all-hands-on-deck mentality,” said Yasin Kasirga, the Dubai Chapter Organizer. “It was very powerful observing the team’s will to contribute, volunteering for a greater cause, supporting each other, sharing experiences, and bringing the pieces together.”
This year is the Dubai Chapter’s first time participating in the Community Challenge, and winning holds personal significance for many team members.
“It was very exciting to join this Challenge and put what we’ve learned with HBS Online into practice,” said Randa Hanoun, who led the Dubai Chapter’s efforts. “Empowered to Educate’s mission resonates with my life purpose of ‘leaving an impact.’”
Dubai Chapter member Manal Rafique echoed her sentiments.
“It’s been my childhood dream to provide education to all,” Rafique said. “I’m so happy to be able to start here with Empowered to Educate.”
An Actionable Plan for Expansion into Jordan
For many Community members, working on the Challenge isn’t just a way to make a difference in the world but in their own communities.
Hanoun has lived in Jordan for over 30 years and worked in the education nonprofit space.
“I’m really excited Empowered to Educate has chosen to expand into Jordan,” she said. “As a Jordanian woman, I’m part of this community.”
She highlighted the overlooked populations of Jordanian women seeking out educational opportunities. Where there has historically been a focus on funding education for refugees and other underprivileged groups, Hanoun hopes Empowered to Educate will open doors for all women in Jordan.
The Dubai Chapter’s proposal outlines several Jordanian non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, and corporations that support women empowerment efforts and could aid Empowered to Educate in its expansion.
“We want Empowered to Educate to provide these opportunities to every woman here in Jordan,” Hanoun said.
She noted that an important facet of their proposal is the best practices for communication, which will help Empowered to Educate overcome Jordan’s strongly held gender stereotypes.
“The recommendations we shared about brand and cultural cohesiveness will ensure people understand Empowered to Educate’s mission,” Hanoun said. “Reaching out and communicating the organization’s impact is critical. It’s all about the impact.”
Collaborating to Empower Women Globally
Moving forward, the Empowered to Educate team is excited to work with the Dubai Chapter to execute their expansion plan into Jordan.
“We’ve just launched our second cohort of fellows in Ghana,” Kane said. “After that program is settled, we’ll start moving into Jordan.”
The Empowered to Educate team plans to draw on ideas from the other five proposals to help further their mission of empowering women to make a difference in their communities through education.
“Every single proposal contributed a lot to our thinking,” said Rose Dodd, Empowered to Educate, Inc.’s country advisor for Ghana. “They gave us new ideas and pushed us to think about things we hadn’t before. Every proposal added value.”
Kane emphasized the importance of the HBS Online Community’s support in its capacity as a small nonprofit.
“We’re an extremely small team, so we deeply appreciate the extra assistance that comes from the Community Challenge,” she said. “The Chapters’ support may even double or triple our capacity.”
Kane continued, “We’re very grateful to be part of this experience because it’s a learning experience for us, too. It’s wonderful to have these connections with this group of committed people who really care about community change and put their time into it. It came through loud and clear from all of these proposals and their hard work.”
The Empowered to Educate fellows from the first cohort in Ghana have impacted the lives of 54,000 people through their work in the education sector. With an expansion plan and the support of a community dedicated to making change, there’s no telling how Empowered to Educate’s impact might grow.
Are you interested in meeting other business professionals and creating change in future Community Challenges? Join the HBS Online Community today.