Women represent about half of the population of Pakistan but yet their economic participation is abysmally low due to cultural barriers and patriarchal norms of the country. Therefore, only 14% of the women have intermediate degrees and merely 30% of them contribute towards the national economy in comparison to 83% of men. The majority of the working women, roughly around 70% don’t receive proper contracts and work under distressing conditions, which contributes to their vulnerability. Moreover, women represent only 1% of the entrepreneurs in Pakistan, which is a matter of grave concern, as globally women represent about one-third of the entrepreneurs. Although, most of them belong to developed economies, which have already achieved gender parity to a great extent.
The numbers speak for themselves as they indicate the dilapidated state of female participation in economic activities of the country and the need for a program focused on enhancing female participation in the labor force. Hence, PTCL along with the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) launched the program, “Ba-Ikhtiar”, to harness the earning potential of 100 women from the district of Haripur semi-skilled in stitching and embroidery; and cultivate entrepreneurial spirit among them through tech-enablement and financial inclusion.
The program commenced with a 15-day training which was conducted at KTS Vocational Training Institute. This first module focused on improving the design, embroidery, and stitching skills of these women and expanding their portfolio to incorporate an eclectic set of products like cushions, bedsheets, and dresses.
While, U Microfinance Bank, a subsidiary of the PTCL Group, organized a digital financial literacy training for these women entrepreneurs at the PTCL Haripur Staff College. This holistic training involved a variety of facets like opening bank accounts, managing mobile wallet accounts, performing digital transactions, and accessing credit from U Bank for business development. This module touched upon a critical module of women’s entrepreneurship and financial inclusion as less than 5% of SME credit goes to women-led businesses and only 13% of women own a full-fledged bank account.
Furthermore, the beneficiaries of this program received training from Daraz, which assisted them in setting up Daraz seller accounts, managing product listings, and augmenting their digital marketing skills. This enabled these female entrepreneurs to rationalize and expand their business operations. Not to forget the crucial role of PTCL and Ufone 4G, who provided smartphones to these women with free internet packages for a year.
Two women, Marium Hussain and Farhat al-Ain, stood out from the lot due to their exceptional talent and determination, which allowed them to succeed in establishing a flourishing business of embroidered cushions, bedsheets, and dresses.
During a conversation, Marium shared her struggle of acquiring customers outside of her vicinity and collecting payments from people who lived nearby, which exacerbated the situation but now with the help of the platform Daraz, they can sell their products to even remote regions of Pakistan and receive payments online through UPaisa instantly. The other female entrepreneur, Farhat al-Ain, intends to empower more female entrepreneurs like her. Hence, she provides mentorship to young women and endows them with embroidery and marketing skills.
Both female entrepreneurs expressed their gratitude towards PTCL and affirmed that this program empowered them to scale their businesses significantly. Moreover, the Ba-Ikhtiar program gave these women a chance to showcase their talent at GITEX Global, where they garnered global recognition for their hard work.
One representative from the training program elucidated the ambitions of the program by stating:
‘We started this program as a pilot project to harness the entrepreneurial and earning potential of underprivileged women but our long-term vision is making this program self-sustainable by empowering more women and not just restrict this program to only 100 women. We have brought two of the best women from the group who hail from a small town, Haripur, to showcase their exceptional talent and narrate their incredible entrepreneurial stories at the international event of GITEX Global. One of the two women is mentoring around ten more women of her community by including them in her business and this has allowed her to generate more income. We will continue supporting these women even after this program and help them raise funding by incorporating a startup to scale their businesses. This would help them optimize their business processes and uplift more entrepreneurial women in Pakistan who belong to underprivileged areas.”
The Ba-Ikthiar program has proven to be successful as 79 out of the 100 women are now managing their own businesses online. PTCL along with PPAF intends to expand this program to numerous districts across Pakistan and establish a startup through which these women could raise funding and expedite expansion. The successful entrepreneurial journeys of Marium and Farhat are stories of unwavering dedication and resilience, which serve as an inspiration for female entrepreneurs throughout the country. Moreover, it truly reflects the PTCL Group’s vision to nurture the potential of female entrepreneurs, while adhering to the principles of women empowerment and financial inclusion.
