Empowering women entrepreneurs

It is a global experience that the entrepreneurial activities of women in the organised sector have a stronger impact on the size of GDP of a country than what is contributed by the overall female work force deployed in the civil services and income generation pursuits covered under the informal sector.
Therefore, any initiative taken to empower women to succeed as an entrepreneur has positive implications, not only as an appropriate economic policy of the government, but also for the improvement of the country's overall socio-economic environment.
It is because women have greater tendency to reinvest their savings, not only for expansion of their businesses, but also for education, nutritional needs and health care of their families that a strategy is needed for low income, developing countries to achieve all the Millennium Developmental Goals (MDGs).
Presently, apart from factors like a lack of infrastructure and the absence of an overall congenial business and administrative environment, hurdles like inadequate financial resources, lack of access to technology, education, business-related training, lack of social services and net working etc bar women entrepreneurs from entering the realms of the organised sector. A strategic approach is needed to address these issues, both at the individual and national level, and also at the international level, to sustain large scale businesses of women.
Presently, a major chunk of women businesses come under the purview of micro businesses, financed through personal savings or borrowings from sources other than financial institutions. The presence of five or six Micro Finance Banks and few creditable NGO based MFIs (Micro Finance Institutions), caters to hardly 5% of women businesses, hence 3/4th of self-employed women are operating in the informal sector.
For the transition of women-owned businesses from the informal to the organised sector, an environment of financial resource progression is the foremost need. For expanding/promoting business, women should have access to institutional credit, other than micro finance banks, which, due to their loan size limitations, fail to motivate women to expand their businesses, particularly in areas where they do not have, either access to conventional commercial banks, or where they are not accommodated by these banks for want of adequate collaterals to cover the loan.
To resolve the issue, conventional banks and specialised financial institutions, meant for financing the SME sector must come forward to finance women owned businesses, with growth potential that it evident from their cash/fund flow and assets building position, instead of demanding tangible collaterals. This is how a micro enterprise in the informal sector would be able to grow into a formal creditworthy company.
Lack of access to market is another impeding factor, which need to be addressed. No doubt during the last two decades a lot of improvement has been noticed regarding urban business women's access to the local market, through initiatives from various NGOs and Trade Development Authorities previously known as the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), promoting entrepreneurship among women through identifying market outlets and establishing product display centers in main shopping areas. APWA, Behbud and Alfalah have played an important role in allowing access to both rural and urban business women, to perennial markets for their products, both at the national and international level.
A recent venture of women run markets set up in Northern areas, under the aegis of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP), is another initiative to promote entrepreneurship and networking facilitating the marketing of products of these women, where it would otherwise be difficult to get access to the market.
Despite these affirmative steps a women access to markets outside their immediate local markets is limited. They generally lack the skill and information required to take full advantage of market opportunities. Those who have participated in trade fairs organised by the EPB itself have immensely benefited and are getting orders from all over the country and abroad.
For expanding business, it is essential that women take it as mission to explore the needs and tastes of their customers, and the overall market trend both at the national and international level.
This further necessitates continuous improvement and innovation of their products, modern strategies for publicity of their products, achieving participation in trade fairs and taking an active role in networking with associations involved in similar lines of business.
Further initiatives to facilitate the passage of the products of women entrepreneurs to the international market are also needed at the international level. The WTO regime advocates for reducing inequalities amongst nations and empowering the less privileged population on the globe. Women in the true sense are the most disadvantaged segment of the population, both economically and socially.
It is a known fact that low income developing countries, particularly of South Asia are being denied access to industrially rich country markets and all rounds in context of the Doha talks held so far, have failed to reach a consensus on the issue. Non-adherence of WTO rules in general is adversely affecting the women-run businesses, also in the low income developing countries, including Pakistan, who by dint of their dynamism and hard work are producing exportable value added products.
As such, to arrest increasing inequalities among nations, developing countries, particularly agrarian countries, should be allowed greater access to industrially rich markets and also a degree of flexibility in implementing WTO rules till they achieve a level playing field.
Further, for sustainable growth of women owned businesses, it is essential that a platform is created for mutual co-operation and understanding between women entrepreneurs and for this, networking both at the national and international level is vitally needed.
No doubt, through the regional Chambers of Commerce & Industry, that have created women wings, and through NGOs like the Pakistan Association of Women Entrepreneurs (PAWE) and the Pakistan Federation of Business & Professional Women, women can have dialogues on the exchange of know-how and expertise and identifying markets etc.
But women with the potential for expanding their businesses and producing exportable goods need to have linkage with women entrepreneurs at the international level. For that, Women World Banking (WWB), based in New York and its affiliates all over the globe, can be accessed to acquire linkage for facilitating marketing and also for obtaining funding from institutional sources.
In the case of business women who are unable inability to offer the desired collaterals, the WWB provides the guarantee to the financing bank of country concerned by establishing a Stand by Letter of Credit in favour of that bank. WWB and its affiliates also impart training in business know-how through workshops and seminars organised from time to time. Further, from national platforms like PAWE and women wings of all Chambers of Commerce & industry and Pakistan Trade Development Authority (formerly EPB), support should be extended to women in business creation and development with particular emphasis on developing feasibility reports and business plans etc.
Project incubation can also be introduced by these establishments. This implies initiating and developing a project, which after going into production is sold to an entrepreneur to avoid the entrepreneur facing teething problems. For entrepreneurs are usually reluctant to start a project involving sizeable investment at the initial stages.
Initiatives taken by the government at the political level to increase women representation in the Assemblies, Senate and local government has no doubt paved the way for women empowerment at all counts, but a strategic approach is needed to bring a sustainable congenial business atmosphere, through effective control on the law and order situation and also the protection of women rights as envisaged in the country's constitution.
The Women Protection Bill, recently passed in the Parliament, excludes the greater part of recommendations made by the Women Status Commission, particularly the recommendation regarding the legal enforcement of inheritance of movable and immovable property by women according to teachings of Islam. This need to be adopted by the Parliament on a priority basis. This will go a long way towards facilitating women empowerment.
Women business organisations like PAWE and the Women Wing of Regional Chambers of Commerce & Industries, apart from undertaking the task of coordination and networking among business women, must act as a pressure group to make the government inclined to providing needed services for business women.
It is also needed that these particular business women platforms, and also the Ministry of Women Development, undertake field research in the conditions and characteristics of the activities and projects run and owned by women so as to facilitate the assessment of women entrepreneur's contribution to country's GDP.