In her presentation, "Education and Entrepreneurship: The Great Equalizer," Kajunju explained that individuals in poverty-stricken regions of the world often lack access to basic education and entrepreneurship opportunities, both of which are often classified as "out-of-reach."
Providing relief or aid to such individuals, however, is not the solution people must be allowed the "ability to create jobs and have their dignity," Kajunju said. The Sudanese entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim who founded the telecommunications company Zain and was integral in the creation of almost 30,000 jobs for Africans illustrates entrepreneurship's capacity to influence countless lives, Kujunju said.
"He's really one of the people who is responsible for bringing cell phones to Africa," she said.
Entrepreneurship can help "jump start" stagnant economies by providing an increased demand for labor, according to Kajunju. Education and entrepreneurship are truly "global issues" that everyone must strive to develop, Kajunju said.
The daughter of a businessman who founded Rainbow Industries which she described as "the African version of Proctor and Gamble" Kajunju was inspired by the success of her father's company.
WIBO has provided educational opportunities to underprivileged entrepreneurs throughout New York City since the organization was founded in 1966, Kajunju said. Among WIBO graduates, 55 percent remain in business after five years and 52 percent report a business as their main source of income, according to Kajunju.
WIBO has multiple locations throughout New York City that provide 16-week workshops in which participants can learn essential business skills from volunteers who are usually graduates of the program, she said.
"WIBO founders believe that you can teach people good business practices," Kajunju said, disagreeing with the notion that some people are inherently skilled at entrepreneurship.
Kajunju differentiated WIBO from similar start-up programs by emphasizing the unique composition of its volunteers. As budding entrepreneurs enrolled in the program, WIBO emphasizes providing role models who come from similar backgrounds, according to Kajunju.
Although most small businesses fail, African-American and Hispanic businesses tend to "fail even more," Kajunju said. Access to financial resources and business education may be to blame for the dearth of prominent minority entrepreneurs, Kajunju said.
"[WIBO] volunteers are African-American, Hispanic, Asian and white," she said. "Our entrepreneurs get to see themselves as other successful entrepreneurs. Role modeling is really key."
WIBO's approach has attracted the attention of prominent financial institutions including Goldman Sachs, whose 10,000 Small Businesses program has "jumped on the bandwagon" of entrepreneurial education, Kajunju said. The initiative trains small-business owners through the community college system in an approach similar to that used by WIBO, she said.
"Educating entrepreneurs is becoming a mainstream notion," Kajunju said.
In many low-income and minority households in the United States, education is a valued yet often inaccessible pathway to success, Kajunju said.
Students from such backgrounds are often hesitant to consider entrepreneurial careers early in their lives due to the risk of failure, according to Kajunju. Despite the sometimes-necessary risky behavior, several entrepreneurs, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft mogul Bill Gates, were able to gain success even after they dropped out of college, Kajunju said.
