The Power of Networking

Talk about the power of networking! Last May at a retirement party, I bumped into someone I knew from another life. We chatted and updated each other on our projects and as a result I got invited to attend an International Trade Mission with a group of women from Africa. It was just a couple of days prior to our first conference, so I went but could not devote too much time to it.

I really enjoyed meeting the women and as a result, four of the delegates chose to attend our conference. Their involvement just made the conference experience that much richer. I have always believed that it doesn’t matter what business you are in, the issues are the same and after spending time with them, I’ve come to realize that it also doesn’t matter what country you are in, we all face similar challenges.

One of the women, Aoko joined Company of Women, making her our first international member and I have kept in touch with others from the delegation. I am working on ways to link my members with women entrepreneurs in Africa as I believe we can learn so much from each other.

So it was wonderful today to receive an email from Kuena to tell me that our conference so inspired her that she now wants to offer a similar learning experience to women in her country and she’s pulling together a committee to make it happen! Now how cool is that.

Just goes to show that you can never tell where one connection will take you.