Dedicated SME policy for women planned.

LAHORE -- The International Trade Centre's ITC-FCDO Programme, known as 'Revenue Mobilisation for Investment and Trade (ReMIT),' has extended an offer of collaboration to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) to establish a dedicated SME Policy to empower Women Entrepreneurs in Pakistan.

A technical team from ReMIT, led by Hamid Ateeque Sarwar, visited SMEDA on Monday to initiate discussions on this collaboration. The meeting revealed a stark gender disparity in labour force participation, with male participation at 67.9% and a mere 21.4% for women. Of the women engaged, only 19% are self-employed or own-account workers, and a minuscule 0.1% are employers. This highlights the urgent need to bolster women's entrepreneurship, considering there are approximately 3.22 million women entrepreneurs in Pakistan.

During the meeting, the ReMIT team was apprised of SMEDA's proactive efforts, with the support and guidance of the...