seminar on “Ease of Doing Business for Women” at LCCI

Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) President Irfan Iqbal Sheikh has said that women empowerment should be a cornerstone of the government’s economic agenda for a sustainable development.

He was speaking at a seminar on “Ease of Doing Business for Women”, organized by Standing Committee on EODB for Women, at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry. LCCI Vice President Mian Zahid Jawaid Ahmad, Convener of the Committee Faiza Amjad, Sadia Rana, Wahab Younas and other experts also spoke on the occasion.

Irfan Iqbal Sheikh said that the importance of female entrepreneurs for economic development is widely recognized in the developed countries but they are lagging behind in the developing countries like Pakistan in term of the number of female owned businesses and their access to economic resources.

He said that role of women entrepreneurs has become more crucial with the passage of time as they are now well over half of the population. “Our Women entrepreneurs have great potential and they can go a long way in transforming the economy of Pakistan. It is believed if they are given due support and better opportunities they can boost Pakistan’s GDP by 30%.

It is needless to mention that our women entrepreneurs can greatly help us in achieving even better results for improving Pakistan’s ranking of EODB”, the LCCI President said and added that measuring women’s entrepreneurial activity is critical for a better understanding of how female entrepreneurs contribute to the economy and society.

He said that imparting training to women is a must because as having all the talent a number of women are unable to make a mark in the international market because they did not have a certificate from any reputed institution, a prerequisite to enter into world market. They said that the private sector would have to workout methodology to this regard to wear off the intensity of present day economic meltdown. He said that women constitute more than half of our population and there is a dire need to encourage them join mainstream economy.

The LCCI President said that Lahore Chamber has been actively engaged with Provincial and Federal Governments since 2016 to pinpoint the grey areas that have adversely affected the EODB ranking of Pakistan. It is the result of LCCI’s concerted efforts that Pakistan has jumped up 28 places on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index and secured a place among the top 10 countries with the most improved business climate.

Convener of the Standing Committee on Ease of Doing Business for Women Faiza Amjad said that Lahore Chamber has always supported and facilitated women empowerment. She said that there should be strong linkages between Institutes working for the women empowerment in Pakistan. She also threw light on the road map of the Standing Committee and discussed plan to achieve the targets.