What Happened: Facebook expands its initiative ‘SheMeansBusiness’ through another initiative called ‘Business Resilience through Financial Education (BRFE)’. The platform aims to bolster women-empowerment in Pakistan by encouraging financial inclusion and growth of women-led businesses.
Backstory : ‘SheMeansBusiness’ is operating in 21 countries around the world and more than 1 million women have been trained in digital skills worldwide by Facebook and its partners. SheMeansBusiness programme has been running in Pakistan since May 2020. The aim of the programme has been to enhance the digital marketing and financial literacy skills of diverse groups of female entrepreneurs from across the country. Facebook, in partnership with State Bank and the USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA), recently initiated the component ‘Business Resilience through Financial Education (BRFE)’. Sima Kamil, the US Embassy Islamabad Chargé d’affaires Lesslie Viguerie and Deputy Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, virtually inaugurated BRFE. A number of senior government officials and representatives of Facebook, Chambers of Commerce, USAID, Ministry of Commerce and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) attended the official event. Beth Ann Lim, director of Policy Programmes and Government Outreach for the Asia Pacific at Facebook and Global Head of SheMeansBusiness, briefed lon Facebook’s objectives of ‘SheMeansBusiness’ and the newly-launched Business Resilience through Financial Education (BRFE) component in Pakistan along with other Asia Pacific countries. In a video message, Chargé d’affaires Lesslie Viguerie highlighted that the US Government holds the economic empowerment of women as a key pillar of its development efforts in Pakistan and across the world and firmly believes that investing in women’s empowerment can help eradicate extreme poverty and build vibrant economies. She said it is crucial for women-led small and medium businesses to achieve a degree of sustainability and resiliency through skill enhancement and access to finance. “Financial education is crucial for sustainability of women-led businesses in Pakistan and elsewhere. SheMeansBusiness mirrors Facebook’s long-term commitment to supporting the economic development of women in the APAC region, with a strong focus on sustainability of women-led businesses,” said Beth Ann Lim. The event also featured two panel discussions that discussed the importance of financial management skills for women SMBs with special focus on challenges and opportunities and exchanged ideas for promoting financial inclusion of women by overcoming the existing social and cultural barriers. You can check their website for further information. Click here for more from Propergaanda.