close
You

Women empowering women

By Buraq Shabbir
Tue, 08, 18

Most women in a patriarchal society like ours struggle to achieve equal rights and status as that of men...

seminar

Most women in a patriarchal society like ours struggle to achieve equal rights and status as that of men. Hence, women empowerment remains at the heart of several discussions every now and then, paving way for initiatives that aim to foster equality.

One of the most recent efforts in this direction was an event, called 'Inspire Her', that took place earlier this month and was helmed by the Facebook group 'Superwomen of Pakistan' (SWOP). SWOP is an all-women Facebook group with over 30,000 strong, ambitious and motivated Pakistani women. Founder of the group, Nida S. Fahad hosted the event to honour women entrepreneurs and celebrate women empowerment and their entrepreneurial skills.

Over 200 women from different walks of life showed up on the occasion to connect, learn and get inspired by the guest speakers for the evening at Regent Plaza in Karachi. The event featured three segments: Inspire, Conquer and Rise in which the guests spoke about their journey, how they became an entrepreneur and what challenges they faced.

Coming back to the segments, Talk 1 was led by the Head Patisserie Chef of Marcel's, Niha Akbar and Nageen Marfani - Founder Vogue Amour/Blogger. They talked about breaking barriers that hinder one's growth and realising the true potential to achieve the desired goals. Talk 2 was led by Aseela Jaliawala - Motivational Speaker/Trainer and Varah Musavvir - Founder Firefly who spoke about the emotional dependability of an entrepreneur and what it means to be a self-made woman.

This was followed by a special segment dedicated to Sarwat Gilani who is an integral part of Pakistan's drama and film industry. One of the finest actors we have today, Sarwat shared her journey and how she became a prominent figure. Her motto and message for the attendees was, 'Support and love yourself!'

Talk 3, led by Humaira Anwaar - Development Strategist, Tech Pakistan, and Tehreem Pasha - Islamic Calligraphy Artist, focused on the basics of becoming an entrepreneur. It incorporated discussion on how to start a business or an entrepreneurial journey while the speakers also gave an insight of their lines of work.

Towards the end, there was a brief session hosted by Pheby Haroon, co-partner of pH Solutions that organised the entire event in collaboration with SWOP. Titled 'Inspiring To Be The Best Version Of You', this segment featured three ambitious, strong and successful women of Pakistan including Sofia Bilgrami - CEO Stois, Maliha Rao - Founder Whimsy Beauty who was also the Chief Guest of the event and model-actor Nausheen Shah alongside Pheby. All three women shared their inspirational journey and the hardships they faced along with what motivated them to move forward and achieve their goals.

Nausheen Shah shared her success story and inspired the audience with her speech. "Be passionate about what you do, empower yourself, and be the best version of yourself regardless of the day-to-day struggles we all have to face," she asserted.

The event concluded on a lighter note with a small quick cooking session and a poetry performance by Sarah Tanveer and Zehra Khan.