‘Lack of women entrepreneurs in country’

Islamabad : Pakistan has barely less than 10% of female entrepreneurs in the country despite it having of around 49% women population, said Roubina Toufiq Shah, former Director-General, Ministry of Commerce.

Ms Shah was presenting her keynote address during a public-private dialogue on “Gender-focused economic reforms” organised here by Centre for Research and Security Studies.

Ms Shah said that Government is making all out efforts to pass legislation for the betterment of womenfolk, yet no specific, sustainable and beneficial facilitation is being carried out to help women earn their own living, to bring them at par with men, to start and run their own businesses and to help them export their products.

She opined that fault also lies with the women as they have not been going in the right direction. Moreover, she said, no coordinated research was carried out to find the reasons and circumstances till now for resolving the issue. The result of this apathy is that 70% of women businesses die down in the very first year, as these cannot survive due to lack of support.

While commenting on Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, she observed that over the years, TDAP has organized more than 50 women specific local exhibitions, sent many women entrepreneurs on international exhibitions and delegations, sponsored many solo women exhibitions internationally and also held multiple seminars and conferences with women participations. Though, these can be termed as practices not a defined policy, she added.