A door to the global arena
The 23rd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013 to be held in November in Sri Lanka has opened a clear door to the global arena. Many international delegates with some interest in the Sri Lankan economy will be here to participate and the Business and Professional Women (BPW) Sri Lanka, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary of dedicated service to the women of Sri Lanka, is keen to take the initiative in harnessing their expertise and support.
Freda Miriklis, 22nd President of BPW International. Pic by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
“The International Conference to promote Economic Development, Joint Venture Partnerships and Eco-Tourism” held on August 10-12 at the Kingsbury Hotel was attended by delegates from the fields of politics, economics and tourism from Japan, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore. The President of the BPW International, Freda Miriklis spoke to the Sunday Times about her work here and their objective of supporting the development of our economy through empowering women.
“My organisation covers all sectors of society. Just like business and professional women, entrepreneurs are also important for us. We deal with different countries of the world and in doing so we have to cater to different needs of different cultures. We understand that in Sri Lanka, due to the 30-year war, most women lost their husbands which made them the sole source of income for their family. They are working in household industries in crafts, sewing and other small scale women’s and other commercial activities.”
This was a common problem in most countries, where single women have to be the bread earners due to different reasons, be it war, divorce or death of spouse, she said. “I therefore think we are obliged as a women’s organisation to include these hardworking women too into our organisation. It is recorded that there are over 200 million women entrepreneurs all around the world. BPW Sri Lanka has done many projects to help them by holding life skills workshops, and providing themwith the necessary technical assistance. We do what we can as an organisation if we identify a pressing need in an area.”
Freda Miriklis was elected 22nd International President of BPW International at the XXVII BPW International Congress held in Helsinki, Finland, in June 2011. She is also the youngest President, to serve BPW International, in the organisation’s 80 year history. Ms Miriklis has served BPW International since 2005. From 2008-2011 she was elected Vice President of the United Nations Committee on the Status of Women where she was responsible for the organisation’s annual programme of events in New York during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) and was appointed by the President to chair the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP) Special Taskforce.
She has also received the prestigious Young Australian Business and Professional Women’s Award 1998-2000. She had been an Investment advisor since 1992.
“It is the third initiative of the BPW International that talks of the economic empowerment of the entrepreneurs. We have worked together with the International Trade Centre (ITC), which is a subsidiary body of the World Trade Organisation, and it specifically looks to create and facilitate business and trade opportunities between developed and developing countries. My organisation with many others has come together on sourcing a global platform for business women. This platform is particularly interesting for Sri Lanka, as it has satisfied the agenda of ITC’s developing countries and also because it has prioritised development in the country at the present. Therefore we thought this would be the opportune moment to bring this in to Sri Lanka especially with CHOGM happening in November.
Freda further explained the process that takes place. “The UN creates a platform to which international companies who are collectively worth 700 million dollars are invited. These companies have identified that the way they want to help in realising the UN’s Millennium Development Goals is through MDG 3- economic empowerment through women. And so they have decided that they will allocate a portion of their supply chain to women owned and run businesses. This programme took place in Australia and was very successful there and this time we hope to do the same for Sri Lanka.”
“We can bring agents from ITC to work with these women at the grassroots level, find a business model that helps them and serves them better and thereby giving them contracts from these big organisations. But we cannot do it alone and we need the support of both the government and the local large scale businesses as it’s about bringing real development opportunities in to the country. That is why we are now trying to establish a Commonwealth Business Women’s Council this year to meet this end.”
They formed something similar in 2011 by a tri-partite agreement of Britain, Australia and Pakistan when Australia was holding the chairmanship. “But now the chair is being handed over to Sri Lanka so this is why are trying to make maximum use of this limited time we have to help the world recognise Sri Lanka for its true potential,” she said.
They will launch a young BPW Sri Lanka, which is for professional women under 30 years. For further information BPW can be contacted on 0777829502 or see www.bpwsrilanka.lk and www.change-srilanka.com. They are located at No. 25/2, Ocean View Tower, Station Road, Colombo 04.
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