F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Shaikh Amir Waheed here on Wednesday urged the government introduce policies focusing on women economic empowerment in order to achieve sustainable economic growth of the country.
He said that women were over half of Pakistan’s total population, adding that advanced countries have achieved rapid economic growth by focusing on women empowerment.
He urged the government for making policies to bring women in the mainstream economy so that they could play more effective role in the development of country.
He was addressing a 25-member delegation of women that visited ICCI led by Sadaf Raza, Director, Ideas for Life Trust (IFLT).
The women were representing various fields including entrepreneurs, lawyers, teachers and counselors and were being trained as leaders and entrepreneurs at IFLT, said President ICCI.
Sheikh Amir Waheed apprised the delegation about the initiatives of ICCI focused on the promotion of women entrepreneurs. He said ICCI has established a Women Growth Center to provide guidance and to facilitate aspiring women entrepreneurs in business startups.
Muhammad Naveed Senior Vice President and Nisar Mirza Vice President, ICCI said that women have a promising career in entrepreneurship as by starting their own businesses, they could not only achieve economic independence, they could also create jobs for others.
Speaking on the occasion, Sadaf Raza, Director, Ideas for Life Trust said that IFLT was a not-for-profit organization that offered its resources and expertise to multi-sectoral organizations in the fields of training, capacity building, resource mobilizing, management, monitoring and evaluation, communication, advocacy and public policy research.
She said IFLT was working in the core areas of education rights, women empowerment, youth emancipation, and communication for development. She said that for women empowerment, IFLT was providing training to women so that they could play role of leaders and entrepreneurs in society and contribute effectively towards the nation building.
Sadaf Raza said the purpose of taking them to different organizations was to expose them to various working environments and create networking opportunities for them. She said IFLT has already trained some batches of women while another batch of 25 women was currently under training.
