WCCI chief says govt should provide soft loans to women entrepreneurs

LAHORE: The government should give loans to women entrepreneurs on six percent markup, said President Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Lahore Sam Ali Dada while talking to Business Recorder. She said banks should provide soft loans to those women, who want to establish their own businesses so that they can also play role in the strengthening of the local economy and alleviation of poverty.

She said fostering the entrepreneurship of women is important for Pakistan’s economic growth and inclusion agenda, and access to financial services is an important component of starting and growing a business for women entrepreneurs.

She also said that according to the report 59 percent of women who are counted as microfinance clients, a significant proportion are likely not the final users and beneficiaries of the loan. Estimates vary, but anywhere between 50 and 70 percent of the loans made for women clients may actually be for use by their male relatives. Disaggregated numbers are even more revealing. In urban programs that lend exclusively to women, only 28 percent of the women borrowers, on average, were using the loans themselves. In contrast, in rural areas, where both men and women are active clients, approximately 68 percent of women clients were the final borrowers. In addition, 90 percent of women have to ask for permission from their husbands to obtain a loan, and 60 percent have to “urge” their husbands to repay the loan.

The challenges of consumer protection and effectively reaching women entrepreneurs are likely not limited to Pakistan.

Sam said that the women chamber is working on developing a draft policy to promote women entrepreneurship in the province she added that the chamber had undertaken a number of initiatives to promote their businesses at local, national, and international levels.

She also said that the chamber is also planning to launch a special program to market products of businesswomen by developing linkages with their colleagues in other parts of the country. She said that the chamber provided facilitation services to women entrepreneurs under the “one-window” operation service.

She said that women industrial park would be set up to provide space to those skilled women, who wanted to establish their business in various trades. She demanded that a women’s business international council would be set up to promote handicrafts of local women at the global market. She stressed the need for the economic empowerment of women. She demanded of the government to give equal representation to women in decision-making forums and relevant bodies.

The State Bank of Pakistan has played a leading role in creating an environment in which microfinance can flourish and innovate and can now push the frontier of outreach by setting standards for consumer protection of women borrowers, transparency in gender reporting, and discouraging discriminatory practices and policies.

While emphasizing on increasing the regional trade and cooperation between the regional women chambers of commerce especially China and South Asian countries Sam Ali dada said that SAARC is a regional organization created primarily to promote the welfare of the peoples of this region. Convinced that women, who constitute almost 50 percent of the population, are South Asia’s strength, the SAARC leaders have underscored the need for bringing them fully into the mainstream of socio-economic development, she added.

She also shed light on the initiatives taken by SAARC in empowering women, with particular reference to the SAARC Social Charter and the Regional Convention for Women, and inter-governmental mechanisms, including the mechanism of Ministerial Meetings on Women.

The role and status of women have been changing rapidly due to growing industrialization and globalization, supported by conducive social legislation and legal instruments. With the ever-changing socio-cultural values, and spread of education and awareness, women are increasingly engaging themselves in professional activities, including entrepreneurship, said Sam Ali Dada.

Women empowerment is a prerequisite for the inclusive prosperity of society. As a result, both the state and society are working to remove the ancient taboo of not allowing women to obtain an education, the necessary skills, and the best professions with the best benefits.

Sam said that that the importance of female entrepreneurs for economic development is widely recognized in developed countries but they are lagging behind in developing countries like Pakistan in terms of the number of female-owned businesses and their access to economic resources. She also said that role of women entrepreneurs has become more crucial with the passage of time as they are now well over half of the population. “Our Women entrepreneurs have great potential and they can go a long way in transforming the economy of Pakistan. It is believed if they are given due support and better opportunities they can boost Pakistan’s GDP by 30 percent.

She further said that imparting training to women is a must because as having all the talent a number of women are unable to make a mark in the international market because they did not have a certificate from any reputed institution, a prerequisite to enter into world market.

President WCCI called for enhancing women’s role in national economic development. She said that WCCI remained restricted to Lahore but now, we have decided to expand our activities to other areas with a focus on women empowerment. She stated that Lahore is a major industrial, commercial and business hub of the province and WCCI is planning to work with Lahore College for Women University and Kinnaird College for Women.

The president also stressed the need that during education, the students must have linkage with the industry so that they could be easily absorbed in the industrial sector after completing their education. She pointed out that the industry-academia gap was huge in Pakistan and the government should seriously work to bridge this gap. However, it is the responsibility of industry and academia to make serious efforts as the future development is directly linked with the knowledge-based economy for which industry-academia linkage is a prerequisite.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021