KATHMANDU, August 7: The sixth edition of the International Women Entrepreneurs Trade Fair is set to be held in Lalitpur from August 18 to 22. Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba is scheduled to inaugurate the fair that will bring women entrepreneurs from various countries including Nepal, according to the organizer.
Addressing a press conference organized in the capital on Sunday, the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs' Association of Nepal (FWEAN), which is organizing the trade fair, said the event is being organized to identify successful women entrepreneurs living in rural parts of the country and promote their products to encourage them to continue their entrepreneurship. The fair to be organized at Heritage Garden in Lalitpur will have a total 109 stalls.
Bringing prosperity through investment in women
Addressing the press conference, FWEAN President Niru Rayamajhi Khatri said women entrepreneurs from all seven provinces in Nepal will participate in the trade fair. "All women entrepreneurs are eagerly waiting to bring various goods including herbal products, handicraft items and tooth products that they have produced by investing their skills, time and investment in the market and sell them," she said.
President Khatri said women entrepreneurs had to face huge losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in the past two and half years. "Some of the entrepreneurs even reached the stage of shutting down their businesses. Many others were forced to lay off their employees. While taking these challenges as opportunities, we will bring together all women entrepreneurs in a single platform and provide them not just the support for market management but also unique opportunities to learn from each other's experiences," she said.
Senior Vice President of FWEAN Shova Gyawali said that the FWEAN had been working for the development and promotion of women entrepreneurships in Nepal right since its establishment. She mentioned that the FWEAN had also been working to incorporate the issues related to women entrepreneurships in the decision making process both at national and international level in addition to the strong advocacy for their social and economic empowerment. "The FWEAN has been successfully organizing international women trade fairs since the past five years," she said.
Senior Vice President Gyawali, who is also coordinator of the Sixth International Women Enterpreneurs Trade Fair, said the trade fair will showcase handicraft products, items made from natural fiber, Dhaka and handmade paper products, wooden products, organic food, jewelry and decorative products, among other things. The fair will have stalls of both national and international women entrepreneurs.
Gyawali mentioned that the trade fair is expected to help promote skills and creations of women entrepreneurs and develop their identity both at home and abroad. The fair will provide opportunity to those visiting the stalls to observe and buy high quality products of women entrepreneurs both from Nepal and various other countries including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
