Women find niche in plethora of businesses

Increasing number of women in Rawalpindi making their presence felt

RAWALPINDI:

What is almost considered a norm today often was seen much differently just a few years ago. In an age when women were not a major part of the workforce, it began as a way for women to get involved in chamber activities. A large number of women in Rawalpindi have found their niche in chamber activities.

The number of female members at the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) has reached 300. These women, most of them entrepreneurs, started with the small-scale business in various sectors and since then, they are moving forward with wild success.

The RCCI provided professional and financial support to these women to start small-scale businesses by providing them with the opportunity to contribute to the national economy.

These 300 women associated with various sectors have achieved exceptional success in important sectors such as apparel, textiles, education, interiors, medicine, travel and tours, beauticians, boutiques, art and handicrafts and IT services etc. The RCCI has taken several steps to encourage and promote businesswomen and housewives.

RCCI sources said that the annual membership fee for women has been reduced to Rs1,900 from the actual Rs6,400 which has encouraged more and more women to become a member of the chamber.

At the RCCI two seats are reserved for women. The RCCI women's standing committee also meets regularly where members highlight issues including barriers for start-ups and entrepreneurs and formulate recommendations.

To bring forward women entrepreneurs, the Rawalpindi chamber has been organising women’s conventions and conferences for the last four years.

RCCI sources said that various events highlighting International Women's Day and the International Breast Cancer Awareness Day are also organised for women every year besides arranging small-scale expos.

Women also represent foreign tours and attend international business conferences. These workshops cover topics such as registration, import, export, customs and marketing.

Naureen Ghaffar, a former banker associated with the Rawalpindi chamber, said that she was providing financial business development consultancy to the women members of chambers to help them start businesses availing soft loans in various sectors.

She said that she mainly prepares formal business plans for various business models for the women members of the chamber, enabling them to easily enter into any sector on a small scale through business model and financial consultancy after technical input from the chamber.

She said that many women may be interested in starting a business but they do not take practical steps due to lack of experience here they are provided with support and guidelines to enter and make progress in the field after they were provided with business development and financial consultancy.

Samina Arif, who started a special Iranian food bus iness after getting training and guidelines from the RCCI, said that she invested Rs1.5 million in the business five years ago. She said that before starting the business, she attended a number of training sessions in the chamber, which not only hone her skills and expertise in starting the business but also she got a large number of clients on the chamber platform.

Samina Arif said that at present she has three to four employees and has got a large clientage, thanks to the platform of the chamber. “The chamber provided me training and clientage and I am successfully running my food business which was my dream,” she said.

Fariha Irfan, who successfully runs the business of needle art and handicraft with full the support of the chamber, said that she started her business with an investment of Rs10,000, but “when I went to the Rawalpindi chamber's exhibition in 2018, I realised that it is necessary to have membership of the chamber.”

“After taking membership, the chamber proved to be an institute for me and now I earn gross revenue of up to Rs0.15 million every month from the handicraft and needle art business. She said that she earns 30% net profit from the business and “if there is an order from abroad, goods worth millions of rupees are supplied, and she earns 50 to 60% net profit.

She said that from the chamber’s platform, they get the opportunity to export goods. She said that she now displays her handicraft and needle art in every exhibition in the chamber, and she gets a good response from clients.

RCCI spokesperson Zulfiqar Ahmed said that the support provided by the chamber to women in starting a business is yielding very encouraging results.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2022.