PESHAWAR
The Vice President of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Qurat-Ul-Ain, has stated that only one percent of women are entrepreneurs in Pakistan, while less than 12 percent of women are in the workforce.
She expressed these views during the launching ceremony of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women Entrepreneurial Network (KPWEN) at Peshawar here on Thursday.
She stated that women are facing lots of hurdles to start their businesses, adding that It is very important that women entrepreneurs represent different women’s chambers and industries in KP.
Ms. Rubina, President of Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Faisalabad expressed her enthusiasm for women economic empowerment via KPWEN at the panel discussion.
She said that “We might have just underestimated the potential of women entrepreneurs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa”. She requested CGPA to expand their district-level intervention to Punjab as well.
“This is the starting point of where women begin to have the confidence to come together and not only make KPWEN but also Punjab-WEN, Sindh-WEN, Baloch-WEN and Gilgat Baltistan-WEN,” she added.
Ms. Azra Jamshed, President of Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Peshawar emphasized on the significance of KPWEN’s 3 Cs – Coordinate, Corporate and Communicate.
She said, “We have brought together the women entrepreneurs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, providing them linkages and market networks to other districts and now onwards, using the KPWEN platform we shall advocate not only for networking with other provinces but also strive to advocate for the establishment of more women’s chambers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
There are only 6 women’s chambers. This number needs to increase and KPWEN seems just the right platform to be utilized for.
Zafarullah Khan, technical lead of CIPE, commented that; “Businesses have suffered due to the law-and-order situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
KPWEN is a promising platform for women entrepreneurs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to keep their relevant authorities and department under regular ‘Social Audit’ and use Right to Information Act (RTI) to hold them accountable.
