Caravanserai Project empowers Coachella Valley female entrepreneurs
Linda L. McAllister
Have you ever wanted to be your own boss in business, but didn’t know where to start? What if there was a place that offered mentorships, help with a business plan and website, product development ideas and more? When I left the corporate world to start my communications business some years ago, I would have welcomed a resource to not only show me the path, but one that would invest in my dream.
Coachella Valley residents Jenny Lopez Lowe and Prema Walker found that path here in the Coachella Valley. They took the entrepreneurial leap and will graduate this month with eight others who received business training and capital from the Palm Springs-based nonprofit Caravanserai Project.
Lopez Lowe, 46, originally from El Salvador, teaches bilingual classes both in-person and online via her company, Women Add Value. As a teacher in the Coachella Valley School District for 23 years, she became acutely aware of the spiritual, emotional and social needs of women, who often ignore their own needs and put others first.
Lopez Lowe described the importance of empowering women in business.
“(I have) a commitment to ensure that self-development of women is no longer left to chance,” Lopez Lowe said. She has reaped benefits that I, too, discovered about owning a business: “Entrepreneurship grants me sovereignty over my present and future. I craft my work to suit my life.”
Walker, 31, a first-generation immigrant from India, came from a family of farmers and started Prema’s Permaculture and Composting as an outgrowth of her passion for environmental stewardship. “Waste is not waste, but a resource that hasn’t found its total purpose,” Walker said. Locally, she serves on the Palm Springs Sustainability Commission and helps community groups, like the Prescott Preserve, become more sustainable. Walker’s definition has global implications: “Entrepreneurship…is about demonstrating that business can be a powerful tool for social and ecological healing, one compost pile and garden at a time.”
What I think is notable about these women’s business journeys is that they’re not alone: Caravanserai has invested $2 million+ in hundreds of small businesses, primarily in the Inland Empire, since 2022.
While this nonprofit considers anyone who dreams of entrepreneurship for their training programs, 85% of the businesses they support are owned by women, and more than a third are Hispanic/Latino-owned.
“The emphasis used to be, ‘We will identify together the best solutions for you to thrive as an entrepreneur’,” says Mihai Patru, Caravanserai’s executive director. “Now it’s a game-changer for (participants) when we also offer access to capital that they can use for anything associated with their businesses—a new computer, child care, gas money for their vehicle or insurance for their company.”
I asked Patru about the name “caravanserai” and learned it meant a safe place to rest along ancient trade routes for merchants taking their goods to market. How lucky are we in the Coachella Valley that Caravanserai Project is offering safety by way of emotional and financial support for today’s modern merchants who are taking that next step toward business ownership?
If you’re dreaming of turning your passion into your business purpose, recruitment for the next class of entrepreneurs starts at the graduation event and classes begin in October.
I’ll be watching as Walker, Lopez Lowe and the others take the stage at Caravanserai Project’s 2024 Palm Springs Pitch Competition and SEED Lab Graduation at the Palm Springs Art Museum’s Annenberg Theater Tuesday, April 16 at 5 p.m. I hope you’ll join me at this free event. Go to https://2024graduation.eventbrite.com
Linda McAllister is a Palm-Springs based freelance writer. Her email is pslindamcallister@gmail.com.
