KARACHI: Pakistani women entrepreneurs and industry leaders this week highlighted their achievements and challenges at a business summit held in Karachi, pointing out that despite strides, securing finances and being taken seriously by market players and state institutions remained a key issue for women.
Senior members of the business community attending the ‘Shevolution’ business summit in Pakistan’s commercial hub of Karachi on Wednesday said only 15 percent of the country’s women were professionals, out of which less than five percent were businesswomen.
This lack of representation and access to finance were described as a “serious dilemma” by participants, with officials at the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Korangi, which organized the summit, saying the national GDP could grow three times with equal participation of women in the economy.
Women make up 48 percent of Pakistan’s population but female employment participation is 20 percent, official data shows. The World Bank says if women’s participation was at par with men, Pakistan’s GDP could increase by 60 percent by 2025.
“The biggest challenge for women is to make a case to raise finances to scale up their businesses, to prove to the financiers that they can also be relied on in terms of returning those loans and making good money for themselves from those investments,” Mehvish Waliany, CEO of Alkaram Studio, a major textile company, told Arab News on the sidelines of the event.
“There are plenty of women entrepreneurs out there but they all exist in very small spaces.”
Saima Nadeem, a former member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, said women wished to come forward but lacked recognition.
“We haven’t been able to give that access, that direction to women even if they have been given loans,” Nadeem said.
One solution, according to Sahibzadi Mahin Khan, patron-in-chief and founding president of the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Korangi, was more women in leadership positions, who could make women-focused policies and allow more room for female participation and growth.
“We need more women in leadership roles, and I think I am just trying to contribute some of my efforts to this ecosystem where we want to bring in more women,” Khan told Arab News. “We want to train, we want to facilitate and bring them to a level where they can hold the hands of those who come after them and be able to mentor them. We are trying to make a circle out of it.”
Individuals and institutions also needed to take women more “seriously,” Khan added:
“The SECP [Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan] says there should be more than one woman [in the top management]. But when we talk to the corporate sector, they say they have taken one woman onboard. What happens is, they [companies] aren’t giving women the power of decision making.”
But conditions had improved in recent years, according to Naushaba Shahzad, Executive Vice President at the National Bank of Pakistan, who said there had been a “significant improvement” in the ecosystem provided to businesswomen by the government and other financial institutions.
“[The] State Bank [of Pakistan] and other banks have been coming forward with specific women-focused policies for empowering women and providing finances to women,” Shahzad, a senior banker with 30 years of experience, said.
“There is a significant increase in the number of businesswomen … Especially after the [coronavirus] pandemic, a lot of women have started online businesses. They are coming forward and doing really well.”
Saquib Fayyaz Magoon, senior vice president of the Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, quoted the finance minister and said women entrepreneurs were likely to get subsidies in the upcoming budget, either in terms of tax breaks or other support for their ventures.
“Without women participation, it is not possible to improve the economy,” he said. “If we ignore 51 percent of our population and move ahead, it will be the dream of a fool. It is not possible. We have to involve women to grow our economy.”
And men needed to be part of the change, said Andreas Wegner, deputy head of mission at the German Consulate Karachi, who was attending the event:
“What really could bring women forward as well, and men, is when men open up to the idea that the 50 percent of the population that are not men can bring diversity, new ideas and bring other solutions and benefits.”
