How the University at Buffalo’s Minority & Women Emerging Entrepreneur Program Helped Munirah Ali Hone Her Leadership Skills
I serve as President of The ETECH Foundation. It’s an umbrella corporation that is in the process of pursuing approval of a charter to bring new and very specialized educational concepts to the youth in the City of Buffalo. The school is centered around providing hands-on experiences to our aspiring scholars in the fields of engineering and technology which will lead to real and tangible employment and post-secondary educational opportunities. The concept is based on research conducted by members of the board regarding the foreseen job growth within the aforementioned fields in the State of New York. Right now, we are facing a problem of insufficient training of the American workforce. That’s why our goal is to provide exposure and training of our students starting in grade 6, to meet the demand and rigor of the engineering and technology fields.
Munirah’s Vision
My vision is to prepare the next generation of Western New York’s engineering and computer software developers.
The Program
CEL’s Minority & Women Emerging Entrepreneur Program helped me attain and hone those intangible skills that lead to effective leadership and successful entrepreneurship. The biggest takeaways from the program are that not everyone can be an entrepreneur, and that’s ok. You have: entrepreneurs, managers, and technicians. All are necessary for a business to thrive. An entrepreneurial mindset must be cultivated for a business to thrive. I am grateful that I now see things from the appropriate mindset. I constantly hear the voice of one of the program instructors when he pressed the cohort to “get out of the building” to make connections, learn new things and work on the business rather than in it.
Final Thoughts
The concepts learned in the program (e.g. effective goal setting, time management, effective networking/social engagement – to name a few) have challenged me to look at each task and interaction through the lens of an entrepreneurial leader.