07/09/2021
By Mary Lou Kelly
Thursday, July 15, 9-10 a.m. EDT
EforAll: Turning Dreams into Businesses
Presenter: Sophan Smith '02, Executive Director, EforAll
How can entrepreneurship benefit the ecosystem in your community? In this presentation, learn how EforAll is accelerating economic and social impact in communities nationwide through inclusive entrepreneurship. Since its first business accelerator training program, over 700 businesses were started by EforAll alumni with 70% still active and in business today. Now more than ever, we understand the disparities of BIPOC entrepreneurs, the lack of resources, access and opportunities for starting and sustaining a business. EforAll is positioned to level the playing field by providing services in the community at no cost to the entrepreneurs.
Sophan Smith '02 is a Khmer American, raised in the city of Lowell, MA. She was born in Cambodia at the height of the Khmer Rouge War, a genocide that killed over 2 million Cambodian men, women and children. Her family relocated to the U.S. as refugees and settled in Lowell. Sophan was 2 years old when they began their new lives in America. She is the first in her family to attend and graduate from college, earning her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Psychology from UMass Lowell in 2002.
For over a decade, Sophan spent her career working with institutions such as the Boston Private Industry Council, UMass Boston, and State Street Bank. With experiences in employer relations, marketing, and recruitment, the majority of Sophan's work entails cultivating new relationships, developing and/or implementing new strategies and creating brand awareness. In her role as Executive Director of EforAll, Sophan is responsible for carrying out the organization's mission as well as day-to-day operations, while focusing on three primary areas: leadership and vision, general management and fundraising and development.