Women entrepreneurs say local and provincial governments fails to reach remote areas
BUTWAL, Feb 2: Women entrepreneurs emphasize the need to improve market access for their products and establish financial accessibility to foster women's entrepreneurship.
At the ‘Learning and Experience Sharing on Digitalization and Enterprise Development for Women's Entrepreneurship Promotion’ program in Lumbini on Friday, the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs’ Associations of Nepal (FWEAN), in collaboration with Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, brought together leading women entrepreneurs. They highlighted the urgent need for special plans focused on market access, financial inclusion, and technology adoption to ensure the sustainability of women's entrepreneurship. They urged all three levels of government to prioritize its development and promotion.
FWEAN President Shobha Gyawali emphasizes that the country cannot prosper without developing women's entrepreneurship. Noting that women make up more than half of the country's workforce, she urges all three levels of government to integrate women's entrepreneurship into the economy.
President Gyawali states, "As young workers migrate abroad, women entrepreneurs are advancing with new ideas. In this situation, provincial and local governments must create women-friendly entrepreneurial policies and effectively implement existing laws."
On the occasion, she announced that the FWEAN has launched a special campaign to economically and socially empower women through entrepreneurship.
FWEAN meets with President Paudel to solicit support for women...
"The FWEAN connects women entrepreneurs from remote areas and their products to urban markets. It promotes them through technology-based marketing training, exhibitions of goods and services, networking for product promotion, and skill development training to create a competent workforce," said President Gyawali.
She emphasized that the federation actively protects, promotes, and markets women-led industries in all seven provinces.
President Gyawali urged provincial and local governments to ensure the effective implementation of concessional loans, subsidies, and grants for women entrepreneurs, stressing the importance of financial accessibility. She encouraged women entrepreneurs to embrace new ventures and technology with confidence and assured them that the federation stands ready to support and assist women entrepreneurs across the country.
Lumbini Sanskritik Municipality Chief Sajruddin Musalman emphasized that the municipality focuses on developing and expanding women's entrepreneurship. He explained that the municipality connects women entrepreneurs and their products from rural areas with Lumbini's tourism to promote market access. He also shared plans to create sales opportunities for handmade products by linking them with Lumbini's tourism and stressed the need for coordination between the central and provincial governments. "We are conducting training programs for women who want to become entrepreneurs, and we have allocated a budget for women involved in industries, businesses, and agriculture," said the municipality chief.
At the program, district branch presidents and representatives of the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs shared that women in various districts continuously strive to advance in entrepreneurship by utilizing limited resources through their individual efforts. However, entrepreneurs expressed dissatisfaction, stating that local and provincial governments fail to provide sufficient services, benefits, and subsidy programs.
Although tax exemptions apply to registering industries in women's names, most women entrepreneurs in Lumbini Province complained that subsidy and concessional programs for business continuity remain ineffective. Anita KC, the president of FWEAN Rupandehi, stated that local and provincial governments allocate budgets for women entrepreneurs based on access, not on needs, skills, or capacity.
Dang FWEAN President Yashodha Pandey stated that provincial and local governments have not reached women entrepreneurs in rural areas who operate businesses independently. At the event, Kapilvastu FWEAN President Kalpana Kunwar, Nawalparasi FWEAN President Durga Koirala, Rolpa Secretary Lalsari Gharti, and entrepreneurs Manju Ghale, Bandana Gurung, and others emphasized that local governments must play a role in marketing the products and services of industries run by women entrepreneurs by specializing them.
Hari Jung Gurung, president of Rolpa's Gurung Homestay Committee, thanked the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs for revitalizing Rolpa's homestays, which Covid-19 pandemic had affected, through training programs.
Abhilasha Paudel, the FWEAN's executive director, explained that women in Lumbini Province run small and medium industries using local resources to produce handmade goods, organic vegetables, fruits, honey, pickles, spices, and clothes made from local products. She also highlighted that women operate industries like Dhaka fabric, bakeries, decoration materials, tailoring, beauty parlors, homestays, small and medium hotels, e-drives, and tour and travel businesses.
Paudel explained that the program on digitalization and enterprise development, along with homestay training, aimed to help market the products and services of the three industries run by women entrepreneurs by specializing them and linking them with technology.
The FWEAN organized homestay training for women in Rolpa, Lumbini Province. Bhupendra Batsa Lamsal, the project coordinator of the FWEAN, shared that 20 women from Rolpa participated in the training. The training concluded on Friday. During the closing ceremony, President Gyawali encouraged the participants to utilize the skills they had learned and engage in economic earnings through homestays. On this occasion, the federation also provided useful materials to the participants for operating homestays.
