Supporting Women Entrepreneurship in KP

Supporting Women
Entrepreneurship in KP

To gain valuable insights into the experiences of Peshawar's transgender community and women from diverse age and social backgrounds, SEED organized a series of focus group discussions (FGDs) across the city.

Women employment hurdles

Overview

Women in Pakistan constitute merely 22% of the labour force, as of 2021, and women-owned businesses present a similarly dismal picture. Systematic and social barriers, such as a lack of awareness about business and growth opportunities, and a lack of access to finance, bar women from doing business in Pakistan. Moreover, in today’s digital world, a lack of awareness about online businesses and marketing also leads to a sizable proportion of women being unable to capitalise on their potential and run their own businesses.

enabling Women Entrepreneurship in KP

Progress

Despite these hurdles, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a significant number of women who run or aspire to run small-scale businesses from their homes. SEED has been supporting such home-based women entrepreneurs of KP in strengthening their business and digital skills to initiate, improve, and upscale their businesses. SEED has partnered with atomcamp, a continuous learning platform, to deliver business and digital skills training to women entrepreneurs in six major cities of KP, including Peshawar, Nowshera, Kohat, Mardan, Abbottabad, and Swat.

In partnership with atom camp, we held a 'we camp' festival where home-based entrepreneurs from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa showcased their products.

Seed x atomcamp x bank of khyber

Entrepreneurship fairs

SEED and atomcamp also signed an MOU with the Bank of Khyber, to include a module on financial literacy and inclusion in these trainings. It has also been supporting wecamp festivals under atomcamp, and entrepreneurship fairs held in Islamabad biannually, to bring together home-based women entrepreneurs from different parts of the country to showcase their products, gain exposure, and network with relevant people. SEED has been facilitating women entrepreneurs from KP to participate in this fair to strengthen their market linkages.
These trainings will conclude with the top performers joining a three-day advanced round of trainings in Peshawar to prepare them for national and international markets. The Bank of Khyber will also conduct an assessment of the entrepreneurs to be selected for the provision of credit.

Learn more about SEED’s work with inspiring female entrepreneurs in KP: https://bit.ly/3KsavcR