Congratulations Bora Chiemruom and EforAll!

Yesterday was the Grand Opening of Kravant Boutique – the first and only Khmer woman-owned rental and consignment boutique in the city of Lowell. Kravant Boutique offers women access to beautiful elegant dresses at affordable prices. The Grand Opening was a wonderful event!

Behind the launch is something even more important – a confident plan. Bora Chiemruom recently completed the 12-week intensive phase of her year-long EforAll accelerator program. Together with Hugh Kelly and Matteo Forgione, I have been on her EforAll mentor team. She arrived with a very compelling idea. She launched yesterday with a validated, confident plan. And that makes all the difference.

Over the course of 12 weeks, Bora did primary customer research to validate the customer pain point she was solving and fully develop her value proposition. She developed an operation plan and financial plan. She now understands her profit model and how to track her progress to profitability. She developed a marketing plan to reach her customers, picked a name, designed a logo and launched her website and social media presences. She applied for and received a business loan. She set goals for the next year. And, yesterday, she opened her boutique with a full inventory of dresses and is ready to go!

It was incredible to partner with Bora on the journey. She is an amazing entrepreneur. And she is only one of the more than 250 who have launched or are about to launch from an EforAll accelerator program. Entrepreneurs with a validated, confident plan beat the odds. Over the course of more than 6 years in operation, 83% of EforAll graduates are still in business. Congratulations to Bora and all of the EforAll entrepreneurs!