GCU launches women entrepreneurship

LAHORE

Government College University’s Management Studies Department (GCU-MSD) in collaboration with the World Bank has launched a special Women Entrepreneurship Programme “WomenX” to train 400 woman entrepreneurs running small sized enterprises in Lahore and its surroundings.

The opening ceremony chaired by Seema Aziz, an inspiring eminent entrepreneur and social worker, was held on Friday.

The first batch comprised of 36 entrepreneurs. However, under the project, GCU-MSD would provide business education to 400 female entrepreneurs over the period of next two years.

“We are pleased that the World Bank trusted GCU to provide business education to female entrepreneurs and help them to improve efficiency, effectiveness and profitability of their businesses” said MSD Director Najaf Yawar Khan in his inaugural address.

The participants would be provided extensive knowledge and practical training in accounting, entrepreneurial finance, marketing, operations management, leadership and team building, information technology, laws and regulations and project planning during the four months certification course which also included a practical assignment of designing a business project. “Most of the women participating in this programme even didn’t have their bank accounts, so they would begin from the basic level and would be provided a solid understanding of modern business methods that can help them grow their business,” Khan said.

Seema Aziz urged the women enterprisers to never compromise on the standards of their produces. She believed that satisfied customers were the biggest and most sustainable marketing tool ever invented.

GCU Vice-Chancellor Prof Hassan Amir Shah hoped that the training would help these women to develop their small industries or businesses into successful entrepreneurship.

Tevta: The board of Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (TEVTA) on Friday decided to hire 1,000 teachers and other staff for its newly established institutes across Punjab.

TEVTA board's meeting presided over by its Chairperson Irfan Qaiser Sheikh was informed that chief minister Punjab had approved the recruitment of new staff in order to meet the shortage of faculty in these institutes.  

Chief Operating Officer Jawad Ahmed Qureshi, board members Syed Yawar Ali, Hamid Malhi, Abdul Basit, Ismail Khurram, Rehmat Ullah Javaid, Nilofer Sikandar, Sajida Haider Vandal, Nilofar Mehdi and TEVTA officers attended the meeting.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh further said TEVTA board had constituted a sub-committee to ensure transparency and merit in the recruitment process.   

Water filtration: State-of-the-art water filtration plants worth millions of rupees are being installed in rural areas on the instructions of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to provide safe drinking water to people across the province. Waseem Ajmal Chaudhry, CEO of the Punjab Saaf Pani Company, said that the chief minister was determined to serve the people of the province.

Provision of safe drinking water is bound to reduce the health expenditures of the benefiting communities while they would live a healthy life. Besides, women would be able to better utilise the time they used to spend in fetching water from distant places. 

In the course of next two to three years, entire rural Punjab will be provided with the facility of safe drinking water.

However, greater awareness in terms of health and hygiene and use of clean containers would help to improve the life expectancy in the area. Public and private participation is the need of the hour to prevent contamination of fresh water resources while water aquifers must be protected for healthy future generation.