PHILADELPHIA, March 6, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Wharton School's Aresty Institute of Executive Education today launched the "Women Entrepreneurship Education Initiative" to build the business skills of women entrepreneurs in developing countries. The program is part of the 10,000 Women initiative of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., a project designed for social impact with partner schools around the world that will provide business and management education to 10,000 underserved women, predominantly in developing and emerging markets.
"The Wharton School is proud to join Goldman Sachs and other leading business schools in the United States and across the world to unleash the power of entrepreneurship, especially among women in developing and emerging countries. Business schools can be a force for good in the world, and this collaboration is an excellent way of fulfilling that promise," says Wharton Dean Thomas S. Robertson. Founded by an entrepreneur, the Wharton School was also the first business school to create a dedicated entrepreneurial management research center.
The Women Entrepreneurship Education Initiative will offer a Certificate of Professional Development for Women Entrepreneurs, providing participants with essential business knowledge to build and lead successful enterprises. Wharton's Aresty Institute of Executive Education will design the program for women entrepreneurs and deliver it in collaboration with local partners such as the American University in Cairo, Egypt, and the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. The program will use classroom sessions, workshops, and distance learning modules coordinated through the Knowledge@Wharton portal.
Knowledge@Wharton is Wharton's online research journal, which delivers knowledge and thought leadership on a variety of business topics, including entrepreneurship, to more than one million subscribers around the world. In addition, as part of this social impact initiative, Wharton's Joseph H. Lauder Institute will develop original business school case studies addressing challenges facing companies in developing countries.
"This initiative is focused on a population that is underserved but holds bright promise," says Rita McGlone, Senior Director of the Aresty Institute of Executive Education. "Many women entrepreneurs in developing countries have instinctive skills. This program will empower them by helping to formalize those skills with sound business knowledge and frameworks."
10,000 Women (www.10000women.org) brings together academic partners, development organizations, and Goldman Sachs to support pragmatic, flexible, and shorter-term academic programs as well as degree programs for thousands of women. The initiative will also support research on local challenges, mentoring, networking, and capacity building of academic institutions in developing countries.
About Executive Education at the Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania -- founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school -- is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The School has more than 4,600 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 10,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 82,000 graduates.
Informed by in-depth, groundbreaking academic research and extensive industry experience, Wharton Executive Education programs can span anywhere from a few days to six weeks or longer. Each executive education program offers a supportive and challenging context where participants gain the skills necessary for their next level of executive development. Participants who come to Wharton from a diverse range of industries engage with faculty who are the most cited, most published faculty of all top-tier business schools. With a profound influence upon global business, Wharton faculty are the sought-after, trusted advisors of corporations and governments worldwide.
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About Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.
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