We’ve been proud to support the Brotherhood of St Laurence Stepping Stones Program for over three years, collectively raising over $38,580 thanks to the generous support of the Business Chicks community. Based in Melbourne, the Stepping Stones Program is a grassroots micro-enterprise program that offers mentoring, training and support to women from refugee, migrant and asylum seeker backgrounds. They help them develop new skills and increase their participation in business and community. This Refugee Week, we’re proud to share a message from the program coordinators and celebrate the success of recent graduates.
This Refugee Week we want to say thank you to all the women we work with and learn so much from. In the Stepping Stones program, we know that women from refugee backgrounds are innovative and entrepreneurial and contribute a great deal to our community. They are inspirational women and mothers and their hard work running businesses to support their families is worth celebration.
Stepping Stones graduates, Fahan Ahmed (left) and Safitya Duksya (right), work together to run East African Sisters, a Somali catering business in Flemington.
Fahan shared, “We learnt a lot of things during the Stepping Stones to Small Business program, but especially how to be a sole trader, how partnerships work and how to network in our industry. Next we will be working with a Stepping Stones mentor to help us grow our business”
Stepping Stones supports women from multicultural backgrounds with training and mentor guidance so that women can achieve their dream of starting a business. The program supports women to use their skills and strengths to become financially independent.
The impacts of COVID-19 are changing lives, and now more than ever, is the time to show our compassion for those around us. If you have the financial means, we encourage you to support the most disadvantaged people in our community this Refugee Week, through the Brotherhood of St Laurence Stepping Stones Program. You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
To apply for the Stepping Stones program, you can find out more here.
If you’re based in Melbourne and looking for incredible catering (while supporting a small, female-run business!), you can contact the East African Sisters via [email protected] or call (0412 722 119) or email [email protected] or call (0413858 376).
