Brooklyn's Progress
February/March 2008

BY JILL D’AMICO

The human resources field has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. In transforming from staffing to working in management, training and what she calls "human capital," Penda Aiken has made a name for herself in the field and throughout the city.

“We’ve grown from being just a staffing agency to more of a human capital firm, where we help companies with their HR functions,” said Ms. Aiken. “It’s more than staffing, it’s also training and management services."

Starting out in 1990, Ms. Aiken ran a typing service out of her home. She noticed her clients wanted to supervise the typists, and so a staffing service was born. She happily placed secretaries until the business grew and she was running a full-fledged human resources firm.

“That’s when I started seeing joy in finding people work,” she recalled.

Today, she provides a full suite of human resource solutions, on-site management services, develops systems and applications, and performs system integration for her many clients.

Ms. Aiken made a name for herself early on. Not too long ago she met a woman who recognized her name and said her mother had worked for her and enjoyed it.

“That was so unexpected – and a good thing. Since I’ve been in the business, whenever people call me back looking for employment because the last assignment worked out, that is the rewarding part,” she said.

Coming to Brooklyn
Ms. Aiken came to join the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce in 2003 when she moved her business to Brooklyn. It was at this time that her involvement with the community began in earnest.

“Moving to Downtown Brooklyn, and coming from Manhattan, where the environment was clean and you didn’t see rats and garbage - that was one of the first things I was confronted with here.”

Determined to change that, Ms. Aiken immediately went to the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and started planning her own efforts. She immediately joined the committee that was to form the new Court-Livingston-Schermerhorn Business Improvement District. 

“I had concerns about the quality of life - not only for me but my clients and people who come here. The services were sorely lacking for everyone. Thankfully, that’s history now. There is a lot planned.”

Her dedication did not stop there. Ms. Aiken was also recently recognized as a model women-owned business and entrepreneur by the Boy Scouts of America, which spawned another project. Ms. Aiken was “so impressed with their poise” that she approached the Boy Scouts about assisting them with an internship program.

What’s Next
Ms. Aiken won’t stop there. She is in talks to help create a small business training program that will assist minority and women-owned entrepreneurs, to facilitate contract and procurement for small businesses, and a new education initiative.

After talking with her son and daughter-in-law about her grandchildren’s futures, she realized that education was something Penda Aiken Inc. could be involved in. Her firm will be working to recruit and place substitute teachers for charter schools, a growing segment of the education system throughout Brooklyn.

“Our interest is in education and putting quality teachers in the classroom with your children. Charter schools are an offshoot of public education, and an area where a human capital firm can actually assign teachers, so they will be our focus.

The idea seemed natural when she took into account that she has expanded her staffing agency to a full-service administrative and professional powerhouse.

“We are transferring the customer service we do for administrative positions to the professional level – we’re preparing the teacher prior to going into the classroom, geared towards having the smoothest day you possibly can. That’s not always easy with kids!”

For more information, contact Penda Aiken at 718-643-4880 or visit www.pendaaiken.com.