Female entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka need a lot of support
Although female entrepreneurs have now moved from micro enterprise businesses to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) levels, the numbers remain staggeringly low. According to reports although 80 per cent of the Sri Lankan economy is driven by the SMEs only 10 per cent consist of women entrepreneurs in the country, said the Chairperson of the Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce (WCIC) Ms. Rifa Musthapa at a media briefing held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo last week. She said that statistics reveal 52 per cent of the country’s population is women and if 52 per cent of women are not generating adequate income how would any country expect to develop economically. The rational behind hosting the Women’s Entrepreneurs Awards is to recognize the contribution made by women entrepreneurs in their innovative businesses to strengthen the country’s economy.
President Maithripala Sirisena will be the chief guest at the Women Entrepreneurs Awards ceremony for 2015 which will be held at the same hotel on August 5. The Chairperson said that the woman entrepreneur award is the platform to recognise and applaud their success while inspiring potential women entrepreneurs embarking on businesses to accomplish their goals. The woman’s chamber has consistently led the way for the women entrepreneurship development programme and the awards are a way for showcasing and to put the spotlight on such outstanding women. “The Women’s Chamber since its inception in 1985 has been instrumental in nurturing women entrepreneurs into the mainstream of business activity in the country. They also get an opportunity to participate in trade fairs and exhibitions and learn skills to further enhance their businesses.
Women’s entrepreneurship is an economic development and should become a national agenda,” she added. The WCIC will introduce three more categories this year viz the “Woman Exporter of the Year, “the Most Promising Young Entrepreneur” and the “Best Female Start-up Enterprise”. The pinnacle award of the gala ceremony will be the crowning of the “Woman Entrepreneur of the Year” The WCIC is a non-profit organisation of professional women in business management aimed at promoting special interest of women entrepreneurs with the object of incorporating them into the mainstream of business activity in the country. WCIC is the first women only trade chamber to be set up in Sri Lanka in 1985 and the first in the world.