‘Wonder women’ of Pakistanto recount their success stories

LAHORE: ‘Herself’, a project of Punjab Information Technology Boards (PITB), will hold Grand Herself Women Convention (HWC) at Arfa Software Technology Park here on Saturday (today). 

The day-long event is being organised on the first anniversary of the women empowerment initiative of Punjab IT Board –‘Herself’ driven by Dr Umar Saif, the founding vice-chancellor of Information Technology University (ITU) and chairman of PITB and adviser to the Punjab chief minister. 

Dr Umar Saif and Ms Seema Aziz, founder of Sefam Pvt Ltd (Bareeze) and the founder of CARE Foundation, will open the convention. It is also the only women’s initiative to have partnered with Facebook’s #SheMeansBusiness, which shares stories of successful women on their global website.

Facebook, being the official partners for this event, will be pooling in their best human resource all the way from Facebook headquarters to conduct activities and competitions at the convention for women in Pakistan to benefit from. 

The event promises to bring to the participants various sessions, panel discussions featuring significant names in the industry, including Seema Aziz, the only woman from Pakistan listed on Forbes 500, Dr Amjad Saqib, founder and executive director of Akhuwat, Zainab Abbas, a famous sports journalist, Ms Bushra Aman, secretary, Women Development Department, Fizza Farhan, global development advisor/Member, UN HLP, Rafia Qaseem Baig, the brave soul - Asia’s first woman bomb disposal squadron and Samar Khan, the first women in the world to ride cycle on the Karakoram Mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan. 

“At Punjab Information Technology Board, 60 percent of our workforce is women”, said Dr Saif and added, “Herself Women Convention is PITB's way of showcasing and celebrating not just the women of PITB but the women of this entire country, Pakistan.” 

HWC is being organised under the supervision of Nabeel A Qadeer, director Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development, Punjab IT Board and his team. The aim of the convention is to gather wonder women from all across Pakistan to highlight the success of their work in multiple domains and motivate young women to step in the workforce to contribute to the economy. The entire convention revolves around the theme of “Steps to a Progressive Nation”.