Women entrepreneurs aim to raise Rs1m

KARACHI: Women entrepreneurs are looking to raise Rs1 million to educate and train females in an initiative to develop the capabilities of those associated with some kind of business.

Ladiesfund Entrepreneurship Conference (LEC) 2010 will be a fund-raising initiative for the Ladiesfund fellowship programme and Ladiesforum scholarship programme and the proceeds generated from the event will be used as grants to give opportunities to women at the grass roots level, said CEO of Dawood Capital Management Limited (DCM), Tara Uzra Dawood.

She was addressing a press conference along with General Manager of Avari Towers, Gordon James Gorman, at Avari Towers hotel on Wednesday.

DCM, the managers of the conference and Avari Towers, Karachi have announced that they will jointly host the LEC on September 25 at Avari Towers for educating and training 400 participants including both males and females to help them become successful entrepreneurs.

“We are very excited to build a forum for enterpreneurship which will strenghten a country like Pakistan. At this conference we will provide insight and practical knowledge, and also guide budding and mid-career entrepreneurs to the next level of success,” Dawood said.

This year fellowships and scholarships will be awarded, in addition to the Ladiesfund awards that are given out annually at the Ladiesfund Women’s Entrepreneurship Awards, she said.

Gorman said that Avari was actively participating as “we have to encourage Pakistani girls to succeed in Pakistan or they will succeed somewhere else such as in Dubai, Qatar, London, Canada …”

Nilofer Saeed, founder of Copper Kettle, HobNob and N’Eco’s and brand ambassador for Ladiesfund, said that women in Pakistan have the greatest potential, against all odds.

Sameera Raja, founder of Canvas Art Gallery and also brand ambassador for Ladiesfund, said that it is important to help future entrepreneurs.

Puruesh Chaudhary of Mishal, a communications company said: “We plan to expand this relationship with the Ladiesfund which is doing tremendous work in this space. The announcement of a Rs100,000 fellowship is the first step towards a long and productive relationship,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2010.