On Feb.7th at the International House of Japan's auditorium, NPO GEWEL hosted a special guest from the Arab nation, Oman, Ms. Suad Mohammed Abdullah Al-Mudhaffar, who is one of the first Japanese female to establish a private school, which is now ranked in the top 3 among 200 schools there. The guest speaker was flown in with the cooperation of the International House of Japan and All Japan Organization of Social Contribution.

For the GEWEL audience, which comprised mainly of female entrepreneurs and women managers of various major corporations both Japanese and foreign, her speech focused on how creatively she set up one business after another to raise the funds she needed to start her 'dream' school.

Starting first with consignment business to sell various brands of perfume and luxury items, including jewelry, she took her business to the next level in order to earn more sales revenue and profit. She went into manufacturing of her own designed accessories, as well as importing of Japanese cup noodles from Thailand, which would be more nutritional snack than some of the junk food the kids were eating. She was even able to export dates to Japan working with both sides of the Ministry during the Gulf War. In order to accomplish this, she had to take into her own hands even the details of shipping specifications of the size and number of boxes to fit in the container of the cargo.

Her 100% responsibility to herself and taking action are exactly what GEWEL trains in the Peak Performance Workshop developed by Jack Canfield, author of the ?Chicken Soup for the Soul.? To have high self-esteem is the key essence of a person who succeeds. Ms. Suad is someone who never gives up despite tough times! She revealed to us that she bowed in front of her faculty, apologizing that she could not pay their full salary.

However, because she had gained their total trust and respect, all believed in her and continued supporting the school until she could raise the funds to pay them. Never before in her life had she experienced such blessing and gratitude, and she realized that the peak moment is when one takes the risk and opens one's heart completely.

To dispel any dark image among women of the Arab nations, she was dressed in a beautiful white and gold national costume with a pink/white/gold head covering. She mentioned that women in Oman were very well educated and active professionally in many different fields, inviting all of us to visit her home country.