1. PESHAWAR WOMEN CHAMBER OF
COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
“POLICY ADVOCACY PROJECT”
April, 2013
Vice President, Shamama Arbab

2. CHALLENGES FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN
PESHAWAR
 Lack of economic participation due to unfavorable traditions
 Women entrepreneurs were barred from participating in policy
reform process.
 Heavily male dominated society
 Threats from Taliban for Women participation in the main
stream economy.
 Lack of access to finance
 Lack business experience and skills
 Limited knowledge of regulatory provisions
 Lack of understanding of chamber business
2

3. THE FORMATION OF WOMEN’S CHAMBERS IS
PERHAPS THE BEST THING HAPPENED FOR
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN PAKISTAN. DESPITE
51 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION, UNTIL 2006,
WOMEN DID NOT HAVE A VOICE IN THE ECONOMIC
POLICY DEVELOPMENT, NOW THERE ARE EIGHT
REGISTERED WOMEN’S CHAMBERS TO SPEAK ON
BEHALF OF THEIR MEMBERS. WE ARE YOUNG
CHAMBERS, WE NEED TO IMPROVE OUR
STRUCTURE TO BECOME MORE ACTIVE, BUT WE
ARE LEARNING FAST

4. WOMEN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
AND INDUSTRY, PESHAWAR (WCCIP)
4
 Formally registered on August 10,
2010
 Over 150 members to date
 A non-profit, non-political
organization
 03 full time employees and
 First trade association in KPK
focusing on women’s economic
empowerment in Khyber
Pakhthunkhwa

5. PWCCI SERVICES AND ACTIVITIES
 Promote and encourage women entrepreneurs
through advertising in media and trade fairs/
Exhibitions.
 Organize and conduct workshops, conferences
for the purpose of capacity building and raising
awareness amongst women.
 Provides visa recommendation letters to those
who wants to establish business outside the
country.
5

6. 6

7. BENEFITS OF FORMATION OF WOMEN
CHAMBER
7
 Women now have the right of trade association.
 Government officials and different institutions take women
entrepreneurs more seriously
 Creation of a legal body has given encouragement to women
entrepreneurs to come forward and discuss their business
issues.
 Women voice being raised in most conservative area of the
region
 45% Increase in participation of Women Entrepreneurs since
2010.

8. CIPE AS A CHANGE AGENT
8
 Built capacity of our
board
 First grant in 2010
resulted in:
 Office automation
 Membership drive
 Website
 Capacity building of
staff members

9. WWW.WCCIP.ORG.PK
9

10. 10
Capacity Building Program for WCCIP Leadership by CIPE

11. 11

12. CELEBRATION OF GLOBAL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP WEEK
First time in the history of KPK
Region, Participation of 70 female
students and lecturers from different
universities of Pakistan to debate on
the challenges and opportunities for
the start up university graduates.
12

13. GEW WEEK PHOTOS
13

14. WHY POLICY ADVOCACY?
 Over the last two years, chamber on its own has been debating
with provincial government for the development of women
entrepreneurship in the region, but due to the lack of advocacy
skills and funding to support advocacy program from the
government, they have not been successful
 Through CIPE 2nd
grant, Chamber is now working more
strategically and looking at key impediments in the women
entrepreneurship development and what policy reforms required
to remove these issues in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa Province.
14

16. ADVOCACY PROJECT OBJECTIVES
 To engage key stakeholders such as provincial
assembly members, central bank, microfinance
institution, academia, students, business community
and media in democratic dialogue to identify
specific issues related to the development of
women entrepreneurship in KPK
 To prepare a report based on stakeholder dialogue
to embark upon a strategic policy reform project.
16

17. WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS PROJECT
1/5
 Two focus group meetings have been held
During the 1st
meeting following recommendations have been raised
 Financial sector institutions should give soft loans to women
businesses.
 Through public and private sector partnership spirit of
entrepreneurship should be promoted
 Setting up a unit in the Chamber for prospective women entrepreneurs
to educate them about the dynamics of business and processes
involved in setting up a business through public private partnership
 The universities should introduce entrepreneurship as a subject. The
PWCCI can provide support in developing entrepreneurship
curriculum.
17

18. FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS 2/5
2nd
Meeting was attended by State Bank & major Financial
Institutions
Chief Manager State Bank instructed that local banks should start
financial literacy programs to educate women entrepreneurs about
business procedure and financial management.
The State Bank offered support in conducting a survey in
partnership with the Women Chamber about available products by
local banks in the KPK region, so that maximum number of women
could utilize financial support
There should be separate SME policy for women, to facilitate
women entrepreneurship.
18

20. ACADEMIA AND MEDIA 3/5
 Agreed with academia to develop a curriculum for Grade 8 and 9.
 Business Idea Competitions.
 Mentorship, Internships preferences.
 Media agreed to join hands as a team and create a soft image.
 Entrepreneurship societies of the Universities to be linked with the
Chamber for Information Osmosis.
 Agreed on taking women entrepreneurs on boards of the universities.

21. Academia and Media

24. ANTICIPATED RESULT FOR ADVOCACY
INITIATIVE
 Better understanding of key policy issues related to the
development of women entrepreneurship in KPK.
 Encouraging democratic dialogue between key stakeholders on
the subject matter, which will encourage discussion on women
entrepreneurship in provincial assembly.
 Increased media attention to the subject of women
entrepreneurship development in KPK Province.
 Providing networking opportunities to universities, research
and other stakeholder organizations.
24

25. Politicians/Parliamentarians 4/5
 Involve and ask for their support in taking it
to the legislature.

26. FINAL ROUNDTABLE 5/5
Policy Advocacy for Entrepreneurship
Development Policy for Women of KPK
 Final round table involving all the stake
holders and handing over of Policy
Document to the legislators.

27. WAY FORWARD
 Sustainability of the chamber and keep moving it
forward
 Road map for next five years and review of the map
every fourth year
 Developing an effective board
 Implementation of Good governance and leadership
development
 Participation of young leadership in chamber activities
 Developing and implementing a strategic plan.
27

28. Thank You
28