Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and industry and UNIDO launch Women Business Growth Center and Women in Cleantech Campaign on the International Women’s Day 2016
ISLAMABAD – Women Business Growth Centre (WBGC) was launched in Islamabad on International Women’s Day by Islamabad Chamber of Commerce (ICCI) and Industry (ICCI) in collaboration with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
At this occasion, UNIDO in collaboration with ICCI also launched “Women in Cleantech Campaign “which is aimed at encouraging women entrepreneurs to embrace clean technology products that offered immense potential for business growth.
The Women Business Growth Centre – the first initiative of its kind in the private sector – has been launched to promote women entrepreneurship in Pakistan.
Esam Alqararah UNIDO Representative, Sheikh Pervez Ahmed Senior Vice President, Sheikh Abdul Waheed Vice President ICCI, Ms. Amina Malik, PML (N) Women Wing Punjab Vice President, Ms. Nasira Ali Executive Member ICCI& Chairperson ICCI Women Affairs Committee, Ms. Zeenat Ayesha Chairperson ICCI Women Entrepreneurship Committee, Dr. Shahina Waheed National Program Coordinator UNIDO and many other women entrepreneurs were present in the event.
Gender mainstreaming is one of the major focuses of the UNIDO Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP), which employs a competition-based ecosystem approach to identify the most promising entrepreneurs across the country. It works as a local business acceleration programme that supports, promotes and “de-risks” the participating companies and connects them to the potential investors, customers, and partners etc.
Speaking at the occasion, Ms. Amina Malik, PML (N) Women Wing Punjab Vice President and Chairman FPCCI International Trade & Investment Committee said women have vital role in the economic development of the country and assured for support in e-training and capacity building programs for women. She said she would try to achieve better funding from the government for projects aimed at women empowerment.
Esam Alqararah, UNIDO Representative said that cooperation between UNIDO and ICCI was achieving positive outcomes for business community as UNIDO in collaboration with ICCI has launched many successful initiatives including Global Cleantech Program for SMEs and start-ups. He said the launch of “Women in Cleantech Campaign” from the platform of ICCI was another step in the right direction to inculcate the importance of clean technologies in women entrepreneurs that have a bright future. He assured that UNIDO would continue to collaborate with ICCI in initiatives aimed at industrial and entrepreneurship development.