Start a Project. Make It Your Business.

Seattle-based nonprofit Landesa launched the Security for Girls Through Land Project (Girls Project), which leverages land and land rights as a way of improving social and economic prospects for the next generation of women in West Bengal, India.

The project reached more than 7,000 girls in 299 communities in West Bengal between 2010 and 2013, and is expanding to reach roughly 35,000 more in 2013. Landesa’s goal is to eventually reach millions of girls by partnering with a national government initiative called the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls (SABLA).

The reason I bring this up is because Melany Grout (recently featured in Oprah Magazine), an attorney with Landesa, spends more than her share of time flying from Seattle to Dubai to Delhi to Kolkata, India.  Once there, she teaches young girls how to grow food, often on an unused backyard patch of land.  Hence, teaching families the value of young women.

Oftentimes, it takes a project to realize your true passion.  And in more instances than not, that project develops into a business.

So, what are you working on?  What are you passionate about?  If you haven't started a business yet, put the two together and you have a winning formula for business success. 

Photo courtesy:  McKay Savage