Letter of Inquiry
The Softskill Community Group, Inc.
17 Park Road
Rural Town, Bekasi
17 Park Road
Rural Town, Bekasi
July 1, 1995
Dosen Badaru, Executive Director
Xavier Foundation
555 S. Smith St.
Washington, D.C. 22222
Xavier Foundation
555 S. Smith St.
Washington, D.C. 22222
Dear Mr Badaru,
I am writing to inquire whether the Xavier
Foundation would invite a proposal from the Virtual Community Group, Inc.,
requesting an investment of $50,000 per year over two years to support our
Enterprise 2000 initiative. This grant would provide part of the funds needed
for us to train at least 1200 low-income entrepreneurs in rural New Hampshire
in the computer skills they need to create sustainable businesses as we enter
the twenty-first century. Your literature indicates that the Xavier Foundation
is searching for innovative ideas to improve the lives of the rural poor; we
believe Enterprise 2000 falls well within your area of interest.
Information technologies are a promising solution
to one of the primary obstacles facing the small rural enterprise: the
geographic distances which inhibit networking with other businesses, and which
segregate them from a larger marketplace. The Internet and other networks are
now making it possible for entrepreneurs even in the most remote locations to
communicate and do business on a region-wide, national, or even international
basis. Working in conjunction with other organizations, Enterprise 2000 gives
program participants technical skills training adapted to individual need; and,
in collaboration with organizations which recondition and redistribute used computers,
we also assure that they obtain the necessary computer hardware, at low or no
cost.
We believe that broadly-implemented technical
skills programs such as Enterprise 2000 have the potential to transform the
lives of many struggling entrepreneurs, and change the economic landscape of
impoverished rural communities. Unlike many poverty alleviation initiatives,
all of the Virtual Community Group programs are predicated on the assumption
that these entrepreneurs already have 90% of what it takes to compete in the
marketplace -- intelligence, ambition, initiative, and talent. After two years
of experimentation and program development, the Virtual Community Group has
fashioned a superb, easily replicable model in Enterprise 2000, and established
a high degree of credibility among community groups, policy makers, and
funders. With your support, we can make that 10% difference in the lives of
these hard-working people and the future of our rural communities.
Please feel free to call me with any questions. I
look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Yasir Bakhtiar
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