Buy a Rug, Educate A Girl

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At a recent cocktail party at New York's Connoisseur's Antique Fair, Manolo Blahnik-heeled women cooed over brightly colored and intricately patterned Afghan rugs. Five rugs were sold that night, 15 by the time the fair ended, for a total of $32,000. It didn't hurt the sales pitch that the booth was lined with pictures of the impoverished Afghan women who had spent months weaving the rugs.

The go-between in this merchandising effort, which benefits Afghan women and their families, is a 51-year-old former Goldman Sachs (nyse: GS - news - people ) managing director, Connie K. Duckworth. A few years ago Duckworth traveled to Afghanistan as a member of the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council, a government-sponsored board that aims to get private businesses and charities involved in Afghanistan. Duckworth was taken aback by the women's plight: 98% lack formal papers or citizenship and 79% are illiterate. Nine out of ten babies are delivered at home without medical attention, leading to the world's second-highest maternal mortality rate (after Sierra Leone). Duckworth was inspired to open her Rolodex and start an organization called Arzu, which means "hope" in Dari, one of the main Afghan languages.

The nonprofit acts as a conduit between Afghan weavers in remote villages and U.S. rug buyers. A family signs up to weave rugs for Arzu and gets paid an average of $400 per 5-by-7-foot rug. In addition, the family gets a 50% cash bonus, provided that the members participate in educational and health programs offered by Arzu. Literacy classes are one hour a day in the homes of Afghan women. An Arzu monitor checks every month whether children are attending school. A driver takes women who would deliver babies at home to clinics.

Duckworth tells of Kimat, 36, a widow with five children to feed in the remote northern Afghanistan border town of Sakiz Khana. Thirteen hundred dollars in debt for daily expenses and her husband's funeral last year, she turned to Arzu and now weaves rugs. She gets extra money from the organization because she has agreed to enroll her youngest son in school and takes literacy classes with her daughter. "Now we can write and read," Kimat is quoted as saying. "We feel a big change in our lives."

It takes between 3 and 12 months to handcraft a rug. So far Arzu has received 247 and sold 206 of them in the U.S., at prices from $1,000 to $10,000. Duckworth's buyers get rugs for a third less than they would pay at a big department store. "We want to be the Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) for Afghan rugs," she says.

Duckworth, a charismatic woman who has no time for bureaucracy, decided not to enroll in law school in Texas in favor of attending the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1977. In 1981 she landed at Goldman Sachs in sales and trading. After Sept. 11 she decided to further scale back her role at Goldman, spend more time with her family and, in her words, "save the world." In November 2001 Duckworth officially retired and started on several ventures: She coauthored a book ( The Old Girls' Network, a guide for women starting businesses, Basic Books, 2003); founded 8 Wings Enterprises, an angel investor in women-owned businesses (which is now winding down); and chaired the Committee of 200 for women business leaders. Then came the trip to Afghanistan. And then the inspiration for a sales pitch: "Buy a rug and send a girl to school."

Duckworth started Arzu in August 2003 as a tax-exempt charity with $100,000 of her own money. In June 2004 she received $480,000 in seed funding from the federal Agency for International Development. In the U.S. four full-time employees and five consultants work for Arzu from home and in pro bono office space. Duckworth works for free. Revenues last year were $770,000.

When she needs a lawyer or accountant, she looks up an acquaintance, and her opening bid is, "Can you do it pro bono?" A University of Chicago business class, taught by a friend, helped her write her business plan two years ago. The students analyzed where she should sell her natural-dye, hand-knotted rugs, so they would not be relegated to "tribal tchotchkes." Friends who own Minasian Rug Co. in Chicago help her determine patterns, color schemes and sizes.

In Afghanistan, Duck-worth has a dozen people setting specifications (wool must be from sheep in Gazni, Afghanistan) and working with the families and health care providers. "The goal is to let the private sector process work, with some monitoring," says Duckworth.

Lacking a retail arm, Duckworth is still testing the right marketing formula. For now she is a traveling saleswoman, showing her wares at various pit stops, like the Goldman Sachs cocktail party where she sold 28 rugs. She has tried Tupperware-like parties in private homes in Chicago and Washington, D.C. An appearance at a trade show in Charlotte, N.C. flopped for lack of well-heeled buyers. "We're experimenting," says Duckworth.

Success in salesmanship will be crucial to the success of this sort of fusion of charity with commercialism. Says Duckworth: "It's a lot easier to save the world when you can write a check."

http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/0417/098.html

[kaydee457 13]

At a recent cocktail party at New York's Connoisseur's Antique Fair, Manolo Blahnik-heeled women cooed over brightly colored and intricately patterned Afghan rugs. Five rugs were sold that night, 15 by the time the fair ended, for a total of $32,000. It didn't hurt the sales pitch that the booth was lined with pictures of the impoverished Afghan women who had spent months weaving the rugs.

The go-between in this merchandising effort, which benefits Afghan women and their families, is a 51-year-old former Goldman Sachs (nyse: GS - news - people ) managing director, Connie K. Duckworth. A few years ago Duckworth traveled to Afghanistan as a member of the U.S.-Afghan Women's Council, a government-sponsored board that aims to get private businesses and charities involved in Afghanistan. Duckworth was taken aback by the women's plight: 98% lack formal papers or citizenship and 79% are illiterate. Nine out of ten babies are delivered at home without medical attention, leading to the world's second-highest maternal mortality rate (after Sierra Leone). Duckworth was inspired to open her Rolodex and start an organization called Arzu, which means "hope" in Dari, one of the main Afghan languages.

The nonprofit acts as a conduit between Afghan weavers in remote villages and U.S. rug buyers. A family signs up to weave rugs for Arzu and gets paid an average of $400 per 5-by-7-foot rug. In addition, the family gets a 50% cash bonus, provided that the members participate in educational and health programs offered by Arzu. Literacy classes are one hour a day in the homes of Afghan women. An Arzu monitor checks every month whether children are attending school. A driver takes women who would deliver babies at home to clinics.

Duckworth tells of Kimat, 36, a widow with five children to feed in the remote northern Afghanistan border town of Sakiz Khana. Thirteen hundred dollars in debt for daily expenses and her husband's funeral last year, she turned to Arzu and now weaves rugs. She gets extra money from the organization because she has agreed to enroll her youngest son in school and takes literacy classes with her daughter. "Now we can write and read," Kimat is quoted as saying. "We feel a big change in our lives."

It takes between 3 and 12 months to handcraft a rug. So far Arzu has received 247 and sold 206 of them in the U.S., at prices from $1,000 to $10,000. Duckworth's buyers get rugs for a third less than they would pay at a big department store. "We want to be the Dell (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) for Afghan rugs," she says.

Duckworth, a charismatic woman who has no time for bureaucracy, decided not to enroll in law school in Texas in favor of attending the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business in 1977. In 1981 she landed at Goldman Sachs in sales and trading. After Sept. 11 she decided to further scale back her role at Goldman, spend more time with her family and, in her words, "save the world." In November 2001 Duckworth officially retired and started on several ventures: She coauthored a book ( The Old Girls' Network, a guide for women starting businesses, Basic Books, 2003); founded 8 Wings Enterprises, an angel investor in women-owned businesses (which is now winding down); and chaired the Committee of 200 for women business leaders. Then came the trip to Afghanistan. And then the inspiration for a sales pitch: "Buy a rug and send a girl to school."

Duckworth started Arzu in August 2003 as a tax-exempt charity with $100,000 of her own money. In June 2004 she received $480,000 in seed funding from the federal Agency for International Development. In the U.S. four full-time employees and five consultants work for Arzu from home and in pro bono office space. Duckworth works for free. Revenues last year were $770,000.

When she needs a lawyer or accountant, she looks up an acquaintance, and her opening bid is, "Can you do it pro bono?" A University of Chicago business class, taught by a friend, helped her write her business plan two years ago. The students analyzed where she should sell her natural-dye, hand-knotted rugs, so they would not be relegated to "tribal tchotchkes." Friends who own Minasian Rug Co. in Chicago help her determine patterns, color schemes and sizes.

In Afghanistan, Duck-worth has a dozen people setting specifications (wool must be from sheep in Gazni, Afghanistan) and working with the families and health care providers. "The goal is to let the private sector process work, with some monitoring," says Duckworth.

Lacking a retail arm, Duckworth is still testing the right marketing formula. For now she is a traveling saleswoman, showing her wares at various pit stops, like the Goldman Sachs cocktail party where she sold 28 rugs. She has tried Tupperware-like parties in private homes in Chicago and Washington, D.C. An appearance at a trade show in Charlotte, N.C. flopped for lack of well-heeled buyers. "We're experimenting," says Duckworth.

Success in salesmanship will be crucial to the success of this sort of fusion of charity with commercialism. Says Duckworth: "It's a lot easier to save the world when you can write a check."

http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2006/0417/098.html

Geez, from the thread title I thought you were talking about a toupee........

[mawilson 2,133]

Geez, from the thread title I thought you were talking about a toupee........

And I thought "educate a girl" meant something else...

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

Geez, from the thread title I thought you were talking about a toupee........

And I thought "educate a girl" meant something else...

that's what i was wondering.....