Home Kumari Fulbright seeks to help women entrepreneurs receive enough funding
Local

Kumari Fulbright seeks to help women entrepreneurs receive enough funding

Contributors

Kumari FulbrightAny startup can have difficulties getting access to capital, but it appears that the women entrepreneurs find this more of a challenge than men. Estimates show that 30% of small businesses are operated by women. Although this looks impressive on the surface, things take a turn for the worse when you consider that only 7% of women-owned businesses receive venture capital investment money. Additionally, the loan approval rates for women are 20% less than for men.

In order to succeed as a small business, it is imperative to gain access to capital. It is clear that many women are more than capable of running a successful business, but society has yet to catch up in terms of giving them an equal chance to achieve what men have done throughout history. This is exactly what Kumari Fulbright wants to achieve. Through her non-profit organization, Freedom Initiative Project, she aims to help women obtain investments and loans to build an easier path toward success.

A life committed to community service

Not many people would say that they’ve always wanted to dedicate their time to helping other people succeed. Kumari Fulbright, however, has always known that her life would always be attached to community service. During her formative years, her parents would often take them to homeless shelters and soup kitchens. They explained that this experience would remind them of all the blessings in their lives and the value of helping the less fortunate.

Her passion for serving those in need extended during her time at the University of Michigan. Here she introduced fellow students to the act of volunteering, ultimately prompting her to build Students Helping and Reaching People (SHARP). Through the guidance of this community service club, middle school-aged students started to participate in various community activities focused on helping those in need.

Kumari Fulbright has also struggled with personal traumatic experiences. But thanks to the unwavering support offer family, she has always found a way to emerge stronger than ever. This is what she wants a struggling woman to experience as well. In particular, she wants women who suffer from dislocation and recidivism to be reminded that there are people who will go out of their way to help them reach new heights in their lives.

The Freedom Initiative Project

Knowing how difficult it is to triumph over a traumatic experience, Kumari Fulbright has started the Freedom Initiative Project to guide women who seem to be at a loss after going through a hard time. These include women who have just recently got out of jail as well as those whose lives have gone downhill following a divorce. She explains that the primary objective of the organization is to help these women reach their personal potential and learn how to be strong and independent women even during the most difficult of times.

Kumari says that even though society, in general, has come so far in terms of seeing women equally as men, we are still far from a perfect world. Following a traumatic experience, it has been shown that women are twice more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder than men. This isn’t because women are inherently weaker than men. It’s possible that these women simply do not receive adequate support and guidance that would lead them to a road to recovery.

Education Forms the Foundation for Change

The Freedom Initiative Project largely involves educating women on how to take control of their lives. Kumari Fulbright shares that teaching other women is her favorite way to give back to the community. She has plenty of experience in this field, including free after-school tutoring programs. She is also a volunteer at Columbia University’s community impact program which prepares adults for their GED.

Kumari Fulbright is also a successful entrepreneur. Since her teenage years, she has been hustling to make some side income to help fund her education. After all, she has been through; she believes that education is the key to reshaping the lives of women and helping them have a better perspective on their lives.

One way her organization helps women is by teaching them how to build a successful business from the ground up. It doesn’t matter how small the business is; Kumari Fulbright wants to instill in the minds of others that it is possible to succeed as an entrepreneur even without any prior experience. By providing training and marketing materials to aspiring women entrepreneurs, her organization aims to encourage more women to turn their idea into a profitable venture.

This proves particularly helpful for women suffering from criminal recidivism. According to studies, the education level of offenders has a direct correlation with the likelihood of reoffending. 60% of those who were rearrested haven’t finished high school. College graduates, meanwhile, only accounted for 19% of those rearrested. Without proper education, Kumari believes that many women will end up getting trapped in the poverty cycle, and that’s what she’s trying hard to avoid.

Building a family

A lot of struggling women feel as if they do not have a family, that is what they can expect from the Freedom Initiative Project. Their awareness campaigns aimed to educate everyone about the struggles of women in society. Kumari Fulbright knows that it is only a matter of time before everyone understands the importance of helping women rise above the challenges they face and believing in their capabilities to achieve something great.

Kumari Fulbright understands that this isn’t an easy undertaking. There will be inevitable roadblocks along the way, but she remains positive knowing that she has the support of her loving family and the countless women who want to lend a helping hand in creating a better world for the less fortunate.

She says that the challenges facing her organization are nothing compared to the challenges she has defeated in the past. Kumari is more than ready to take them head on together with passionate volunteers.

To get the latest from Kumari Fulbright, be sure to follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.