I was invited to attend the Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) annual, global meeting in Istanbul, Turkey. I sought inspiring stories about female entrepreneurship. My first story from DWEN Istanbul was What is the Value of Happiness?

I want to share the story offered by U.S. expat Cat Jaffee, Founder, Balyolu. Balyolu is a honey tasting, trekking and food products company led by the women and families of Eastern Anatolia, Turkey.

As one of the largest honey-producing countries on the planet with the highest concentration of bee-boxes per square kilometer, Cat saw a unique opportunity to build the world’s first honey tasting trekking route that would support women entrepreneurs and their families. Balyolu is the second incarnation of Cat’s attempt to help women economically in Eastern Turkey.

Entrepreneurship is very important in Turkey, a country of great diversity. Here’s Cat’s 12-minute presentation where she urges DWEN members to forget empowerment, an idea that even she agrees seems a bit antithetical at first:

Cat’s original vision for entrepreneurship failed to achieve its objectives because of its focus: empowering women. What’s wrong with the notion of empowerment?

It starts from a place of assuming a person you want to help has no power and needs your idea or business model to improve their station in life. It suggests “I give/you give”—there’s a quid pro quo for receiving assistance.

Cat learned the very idea of revenue and cost sharing to produce products created an undue burden on the women the program was intended to help. Cat carefully looked at why the program was failing to meet its objectives and decided to pivot and take a different tack. She determined she needed a means to create economic upside for the women while her company took on any downside risk and expense.

Cat innovated a more effective approach for people living in an ancient culture after her first effort failed to hit the mark. Are there lessons for others seeking to help other rural areas and third world countries build economic security and vitality? Indeed.

— Dave Gardner can be reached on Twitter. Dell paid his travel and accommodation for the trip to Istanbul.