This Foundation Trained 1,200 Muslim Women for Leadership

Dr. Ruha Shadab kept hearing the same heartbreaking refrain from her patients in New Delhi: "My husband will not allow it." These Muslim women lacked agency over basic decisions like family planning, and the physician knew something had to change.

The numbers told a stark story. Only 15 percent of Muslim women in India participate in the workforce, with just 5 percent holding formal jobs compared to the national average of 35 percent for all women. Shadab saw untapped potential that could transform India's economy.

Armed with a Fulbright scholarship to Harvard Kennedy School, she turned her conviction into action. In 2019, she launched Led By Foundation with $30,000 in seed funding, hoping to help 20 Muslim women upskill and secure good jobs.

The response stunned her. Two hundred women applied in the first two weeks alone. The following year brought 1,500 applications for just 20 spots.

Today, Led By trains 400 women annually across three core programs. The Accelerator Program supports recent graduates and women returning to work, while the Corporate Leaders Fellowship fast-tracks participants into leadership roles. The Shepreneurs Program helps early-stage founders scale their businesses.

Each six-month program runs online with weekend virtual sessions covering communication, negotiation, personal branding, and structured thinking. This year, the curriculum added AI workplace skills to keep participants competitive.

Program manager Anam Farzeen, herself a 2022 graduate, explains the deeper mission. "It's not just about being job-ready, it's about long-term agency," she says. The foundation creates role models for the next generation of Muslim women.

The challenges participants face are real and layered. Led By research found that Muslim women received roughly half as many job callbacks as Hindu women in hiring studies. Open sessions give participants safe space to discuss navigating their identity at work.

What began as Shadab's solo effort now employs six full-time team members, many of them Led By alumni. Leading tech and corporate firms regularly recruit from the foundation's graduate pool.

The Ripple Effect

The transformation extends far beyond individual careers. Every woman who completes the program becomes a role model for her family and community. Farzeen puts it simply: "Now every woman who joins Led By has nieces, sisters, and daughters who will look up to us."

The foundation has reached women across 25 Indian states and union territories, creating a nationwide network of support. Participants include students, young mothers, homemakers, and working professionals, all lifting each other up while navigating societal and patriarchal barriers.

In March 2024, Shadab left her consulting career at McKinsey to focus full-time on scaling Led By's operations. The foundation is now expanding accessibility through bilingual programming and strengthening its tech infrastructure to reach even more women.

From 20 hopeful applicants to 1,200 trained leaders in seven years, Led By Foundation proves that investing in overlooked talent creates ripples that lift entire communities.