Texas A&M’s chapter of The Women’s Bakery encourages students with a passion for social enterprise to create change through fundraising.
The Women’s Bakery, or TWB, consists of seven bakeries throughout East Africa, each with the mission of empowering women through business. TWB A&M is the first campus chapter created out of a series of national chapters across the United States. Its main purpose is to raise money for TWB, but the organization also serves to empower women and spark social change.
According to The Women’s Bakery’s website, the process of employing women at the bakeries located across Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania consists of identifying strong women and equipping them with the business skills they will need to both make quality bread and run a successful business.
“We believe that women are inherently powerful, and that when a woman has access to social and economic opportunity, the world will benefit,” the website reads.
Aside from fundraising for TWB, accounting graduate student and TWB A&M co-chair Martha Whitfield said the organization strives to create change on campus.
“We try to provide a sense of community and show people that they can make a difference,” Whitfield said. “We do try to do a lot of events for fundraising, but we as an organization also do socials to get to know new members.”
Due to COVID-19, political science junior and TWB A&M co-chair Abigail Jablon said the group has had to become more creative with its fundraising ideas.
“What we do is usually have big bake sales, but this has been hard with COVID[-19],” Jablon said. “Around this time, we usually have a seminar where students and community members can pay for tickets to listen to a panel speak on a particular topic. Last year, I think we did women in business, but that was canceled because of COVID[-19].”
After transferring to A&M in the fall of 2019, Whitfield said she received an email from the organization that inspired her to join.
“I just thought it was such a cool idea to be able to do something that made a difference in a community in Rwanda,” Whitfield said. “I have really enjoyed getting to meet some of the people that work there.”
As a freshman, Jablon said she was searching for an organization that shared similar values as she did.
“I was really interested in entrepreneurship and especially women in entrepreneurship,” Jablon said. “I saw this as a really great opportunity for women in Rwanda to kind of take control of a really unique opportunity.”
The main draw of the organization, Jablon said, is that it doesn’t just raise money to give to TWB, but it provides tools such as education, stable income and nutrition for them to create sustainable lives for themselves, their families and their communities.
“I think that that’s even more powerful than just sending over a check,” Jablon said. “I think we learn so much from what they do and they learn a lot from what they’re being taught, so everyone really benefits from this.”
Whitfield said she wants to emphasize the organization’s openness to all Aggies.
“Anyone who would be interested in making a difference is welcome to join,” Whitfield said. “It’s not just for women.”
For more information on The Women’s Bakery, visit their website.
Editor’s Note: The Battalion’s editor-in-chief Brady Stone was a member of TWB A&M until the spring of 2019. This story was pitched and written entirely by members of The Battalion’s Life & Arts staff.