Led By Foundation, Inc.

The worst-off socio-economic indicators in India for any socio-cultural group is that of Muslims, a community of 200-million which also has a lack of proximate leaders – leaders working for the development of their community. Indian Muslims are highly under-represented in public (1.3% of high-ranking bureaucrats) and private (2.7% of executives of top companies) institutions, across sectors. The lack of women leaders, therein, is even more stark. The current Indian education system creates “educated followers, not leaders”. While assuming that attaining admission in college or graduate school is a marker of potential and willingness to go all the way to take up positions of leadership, LBF ensures that this is translated into proximate leadership and/or development of role models in a sector agnostic fashion, by providing peer-to-peer sharing, a supportive ecosystem, soft skills training, and by creating a community of socially conscious Indian Muslim women (IMW) with high aspirations.

The literacy rate according to the 2011 Census, is lowest for Muslims (57% as compared to Hindus, 63%). Muslim women have a rate of 52% (Hindu women: 56%). The male-female literacy gap is highest among the Muslims. Muslim women face double disadvantage: for being female and for being Muslim. Similar to Hindu women they have lower levels of enrollment compared to men in Indian society because of economic and cultural factors. Like Muslim men, they face discrimination and disadvantage in schooling because of their religious affiliation. Muslim women in India total to 100 million but have only 2 representatives in Parliament. LBF’s expanded roadmap creates a regional and then a global network of empowered Muslim women who help others to achieve professional excellence through tailored mentoring. The reach is One billion people! India has the second largest Muslim population globally and although country context is important, the common religious tenets create similar requirements for these women across the world and LBF in 2021 will expand into that arena. For 2020, we are operating in India.

LBF is the first incubator of any kind that focused on the neglected community of 100 million women in india.as a leadership incubator we are working with high potential women in college with an average age of 23 years old. We are providing them with three resources through a free fellowship program, workshops based on Harvard developed curriculum that is tailored for the fellows. Two, speaker series with incredible women they can relate to. Three, a peer network of similar, ambitious women although multidisciplinary. Two points to be noted: the fellowship is the first platform these fellows get to share space with so many high potential Muslim women in one space and get a multi-disciplinary surrounding. These two things are not available in the fellows’ alma maters. Our tailormade curriculum and intentional pairing of fellows with mentors raises the professional competencies of our fellows, setting them on a steeper success trajectory and therefore, ballooning the role models for the rest of the community. We are using a plethora of online services to deliver the program (Qualtrics, Zoom, G Suite, YouTube, Messaging apps, Canvas, Poll Everywhere, Teachly, Social Media platforms)

We are working with young Muslim women in final year of their college/master’s with no work experience. Only 1.7% of Indian Muslim women have graduate degrees, and even then, not all of them are engaged economic citizens. Through our focus groups and surveys (sample = 1200) we found the root cause to be: (1) lack of mentorship (2) absence of an encouraging ecosystem. LBF is addressing this through (1) tailormade mentorship and 1:1 sessions with experts as well (i.e. C-suite executives from different socio-religious-cultural background who are providing pro bono services to LBF) and (2) creating a unique platform that identifies and overcomes discriminatory obstacles faced by Muslim women in their country.

LBF’s model is iterative. (1) We host regular surveys and feedback forms with the fellows. We improve from week to week (2) the fellowship also sets aside 30 min a week to discuss in smaller groups, challenges facing the fellows (3) LBF phone-surveyed 10% of the women who did not fill their Round 2 applications (we had three rounds to decive the virtual fellows in May) to understand obstacles (they asked for reminders, more information, and more time. We have incorporated that for 2021)

Our fellows are young women, less than a year away from starting their first job. The education system does not prepare them to position, present, and pitch themselves. The fellows are dreamers but because of societal pull-back and lack of nurturing by mentor, they do not set a high success benchmark. The dreamers need to become believers. by providing workshops and access to role models and mentors, we address that, and doing so through a hybrid platform (2020 is all digital; 2021 is hybrid) we also promote digital literacy. Our goal: Converting the momentum of education in to empowered employment

Unfortunately, we have on competitors in India, since no one is looking at this demography. However, compared to other professional development fellowships, LBF is unique in its ability to bring together the best resources from across the globe and create access. For instance, our workshop facilitators (we have 5 for the summer) come from India, UK, USA, South Korea, and UAE

Our anchor is the digital community we are creating. We heavily rely on video-conferencing and G Suite to bring together the fellows and mentors, and to also give fellows space to reflect. 

https://twitter.com/wapppHKS/status/1253316478230806529    https://m.facebook.com/siciharvard/photos/a.1679008265735698/2312571715712680/?type=3&source=57&__tn__=EH-R   You can see the recognition from Harvard

Currently: 24 fellows and 32 mentors. Total outreach beyond this: 2,500 

First year completion: 100 fellows

5 year: 1000 fellows, Total outreach: 50,000

3 full time

2 part time

3 interns

Ruha Shadab is a doctor and a graduate from the Harvard Kennedy School where she was on a full-tuition scholarship. Shadab has worked as a doctor in low-income neighborhoods in Delhi and later moved on to work on systemic issues of healthcare, as a part of the Government of India. Having been raised in a Muslim household, she experienced, first-hand, the stereotypes and the difficulties faced by Muslims in India. However, what struck her most was the dearth of female Muslim leaders in the country. Limited leadership and poor representation mean that the ambitions of young Muslim women are stunted, and the community is unable to break the historical shackles of disempowerment. Shadab is the Founder of Led By Foundation, a social enterprise that provides professional training and mentorship to Muslim women college students, to inspire the next generation of female change-makers. She believes that for a community to be heard, it first needs to speak up.