As the Founder and Owner of C.E.O. Women, Farhana Huq envisions "a world where
immigrant and refugee women are limited only by their own ambition and not by factors
out of their control." This Jumbo graduated in the class of 1998 as a philosophy and
economy major, and she started her not-for-profit company, C.E.O. Women in 2000. This
company was inspired by the struggles of women in her own birth family, who eventually
initiated their own businesses. Huq observed the skills, talents, and the strong drive
of women around her who did not have access to capital or training to achieve their goals.
Huq’s entrepreneurial background stemmed from a need at an early age to have a creative
outlet in the form of small craft projects. She also had a drive to volunteer and participate
in nonprofits, starting at the YMCA. She recalls that at a young age, "it felt right."
In college, Huq petitioned to have an experimental college (exCollege) class on classical
Indian dance be accepted as an official course. She feels as though this accomplishment
demonstrated how she could take an idea, set her mind on something, implement its execution,
and come through successfully. She identifies this process as being directly transferable
into entrepreneurship, and is critical to realizing goals.
When first getting the company started, Huq encountered the major problem most startups
have, even more prevalent in nonprofits, which was funding. The initial program she wanted
to implement involved a series of training workshops, and programs teaching the essentials
of successful entrepreneurship to women. Another challenge was the requirement to have
specialized professionals who would teach English as a Second Language (ESL):
"We didn’t have a curriculum and needed to fundraise – we hadn’t taught ESL students,
but garnered advisors from the community on how to deliver these lessons." In addition,
Huq was also employed elsewhere as she was building C.E.O. Women in order to support herself,
as she was not getting paid. She embraced and brokered skills that she had to create personal
revenue to sustain herself.
Nine years later, Huq encounters different challenges, but is eager to expand and try
to reach more women. Moving forward, the strategies for the programs and fundraising for
C.E.O. Women need a totally different team and mindset in transitioning from a grassroots
campaign to something more strategic and entrepreneurial. Huq comments, "We now need more
conventional business thinkers to reach our growth goals.” Over the past year, C.E.O. Women
has seen a significant change in staff to accommodate these new goals of the organization.
Huq speaks highly of her team, and believes that the ultimate staff equation for her
company is almost complete.
For students at Tufts, the alumna advises to take full advantage of the resources of
the university, and do something off the beaten path after graduation. Huq recalls
joining Vista after college rather then joining a corporation directly, sharing that
the opportunity gave unique and valuable insight into entrepreneurship. She also
encourages students not to be complacent about problems and issues they want solved,
and be more active in realizing the solution.
In conclusion, Huq comments that now is the time to really embrace entrepreneurship,
as it is timely for the economic stimulus package currently being laid out. She feels
as though small and large entrepreneurial businesses are an important piece of that,
and that Social Entrepreneurship is gaining a lot of momentum. "If you are passionate
about an idea to improve or add value to existing circumstances, that is the root of
where entrepreneurship comes from."
