The women empowerment is a key to economic turnaround and the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has always played a pivotal role to make women independent and self-sustained. LCCI Vice President Fahim-ur-Rehman Sehgal while speaking at "She Empowerment Conference" jointly organized by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Leadership Object Oriented Programme (LOOP) here on Wednesday.
He said the women, who make well over fifty percent of total population, cannot be kept aloof of development of the country and they should come forward to play their role for the well-being of people of this part of land. He said women empowerment is a necessity for the development of a society as it enhances both quantity and quality of human resources available for the development.
He said that promotion of women's empowerment is a crucial contribution to progress towards sustainable development. He said those countries progress fast where women are educated and receive equal treatment as men. The IMF has recently conducted a study which determines that women's economic empowerment is key to growth. He said our women entrepreneurs have great potential and they can go a long way in transforming the economy of Pakistan. If they are given due support and better opportunities, they can boost Pakistan's GDP by 30 percent. For that matter, we need to have favourable policies to foster women's participation in economic activities, he added.
The LCCI is playing its due role in motivating the budding women entrepreneurs to come up and get their due share in businesses. The LCCI Women Resource Centre provides guidelines to emerging women who are eager to get on their feet. It serves as a common platform for experienced and young businesswomen who share their experiences with each other and also help out in case of any problem. He hoped that this conference would result in motivating more women to get together under the banner of LCCI and give new energies to the senior and experienced businesswomen to guide them to achieve new heights of success.
Executive Committee member Nabila Intisar shared her own experience as she also started her business from home. She said women can do a lot with hard work, struggle and passion. Sadia Vine, Principal International Grammer School, Ayesha Z Hammad, Sarah Ahmad CEO Desol International, Lisa Canning, Founder IAEOU, Nabila Intisar, Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, Awais Piracha and a number of women entrepreneurs also spoke on the occasion.