Government is seeking more support from the private sector in creating opportunities for the fostering of entrepreneurial skills among women.
Human Services and Social Security Minister Jennifer Webster told a forum at the Roraima Duke Lodge on March 22 to mark the launch of the Guyana chapter of the regional Women Entrepreneurs’ Network (WEN) that the private sector along with civil society and non-governmental organisations must join government in creating opportunities that would allow women entrepreneurs to thrive.
“We believe that by empowering our women, we would erode traditional barriers of gender divide. It is within this context that the government has created mechanisms to financially empower our women through easier access to micro credit,” the minister said, alluding to the 2008 Women of Worth (WOW) initiative undertaken by the Government of Guyana and the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry, a micro credit, low-interest loan facility designed to support women undertaking small business projects in various sectors of the economy including the retail trade.
Webster also pointed to what she said were the numerous training programmes being conducted by the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security through the Board of Industrial Training and the Women’s Leadership Institute.
Meanwhile, Webster told the launch ceremony that WEN – created through an initiative undertaken by the US State Department – can, along with groups of a similar nature, serve as a catalyst for the empowerment of women, a development which was necessary to break existing gender barriers and create opportunities for women’s development.
WEN (Guyana) will shortly be undertaking a needs assessment survey among women-led small and medium-sized enterprises as part of a broader exercise that will inform the organisation’s programme for supporting women in business.
