Women Business Development Centre - Lahore
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
The major goal of this project is to provide a secure and hassle free business environment to women entrepreneurs and to help women to develop their business skills that will enable them to compete effectively in today's marketplace.
BRIEF PROFILE OF SECTOR
Labour Force Survey of Pakistan 2005-06 indicates that currently around 1.130 million enterprises (including 1.20 million self employed) being managed by Women in Pakistan which is 15% of the total employed female labour force. A majority of Women Entrepreneurs in SME fall within the age group of 25-40 years mostly married with a good educational background, pre-dominantly urban based and belonging to a nuclear family structure. As far as the sectoral presence is concerned, they concentrate in the manufacturing sector i.e., Garments (kids, and ladies wear), Leather Products (shoes, bags, etc), Beauty Products, Furniture, Home Textiles, etc. The second most common category that is of services e.g., Doctors, Lawyers, Hospitals, vocational institutes, health care institutes/centers, restaurants, interior designing, Bakery & Confectionery items, IT related services, and non-traditional Gift Items, marketing and training consultancy, nursery and educational institutes, beauty salons, etc.
OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT
Women Business Incubation Center (WBIC), Lahore is an exclusive facility for women to provide ‘hands-on support’ to Women Entrepreneurs (WEs) in an exclusive female oriented environment. It is the first of its kind in Pakistan and facilitates enterprising women who want to start their own business or move from home-based business to a fuller commercial venture.
BENEFITS TO THE SMEs
The WBIC is providing following services to WEs:
- Office Space (nominal rent)
- Display Facility (nominal rent)
- Business Matchmaking and new business opportunities
- Business Development Services (e.g. accountants, lawyers, product developers, etc.)
- Seminars, Workshops and Training Programs
- Facilitation to participate in local and international exhibitions/trade fair
