WBDC Peshawar likely to become operational by month's end

Work on establishing a "Women Business Development Centre" (WBDC) in Peshawar for the promotion of women entrepreneur-ship in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is in final stages and is likely to become operational by end of current month. Provincial Chief, Small and Medium Enterprises Develop-ment Authority (Smeda) Javed Iqbal Khattak told newsmen here on Thursday.
Earlier, KP Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development, Sitara Ayaz visited the site of WBDC and inspected construction work on the scheme. A large number of women entrepreneurs were also present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, she said that the provincial government is taking keen interest in the development of women and their economic empowerment. She assured full co-operation of the provincial government to Smeda and women entrepreneurs in this regard.
Briefing the minister on the purposes and objectives of the project, the provincial Smeda chief said that women entrepreneurs would be provided all kind of facilitation under the roof of one building. The project, he said, has been designed on the pattern of WBDC Lahore.
He said that the objective of the establishment of WBDC is to provide all necessary facilities including office space, product showcasing, exhibition, sale, training ie capacity building for women entrepreneurs and provision of conducive business environment for women in the form of a business incubation centre.
The women entrepreneurs, Khattak maintained, would be provided specialised services in the field of marketing, finance, management and employment generation by supporting new business start ups, business development services for existing business and promotion of entrepreneurial culture amongst women in the province.
Pointing to a local survey, he said the number of females graduating from business schools in the province is approximately 950 per year and the figure is growing rapidly. However, most of these females do not get job opportunities in the province due to a number of reasons.
Elaborating, he said women mostly take part in domestic entrepreneur-ship, but due to limited scale and role of middle-man, they are unable to fetch reasonable price of their product. Access to market is a big problem for women because of different social taboos and financial resources. Nevertheless, the trend of entering of women into cottage industry in the province is increasing and they are contributing to the earnings of the family.
These women, if provided an opportunity of establishing their own businesses, can contribute significantly to the economic prosperity of the country. Therefore, facilities would be provided to women entrepreneurs under the roof of one building in provincial metropolis and two other cities of the province.