According to UN, “Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to build stronger economies
According to UN, “Empowering women to participate fully in economic life across all sectors is essential to build stronger economies, achieve internationally agreed goals for development and sustainability, and improve the quality of life for women, men, families and communities.” And this is exactly what Ladiesfund, an initiative of Dawood Global Foundation (DGF), has been doing since 2007. The initiative supports and empowers Pakistani women entrepreneurs and throughout the year, the foundation organises various events and activities to honour the deserving women. And in October 2015, ‘Lean in Pakistan’ powered by Ladiesfund was founded by Tara Uzra Dawood. Basically, ‘Lean In’ is Sheryl Sandberg’s much lauded global movement to empower all women that was introduced to Pakistan a few years ago. The project is authorized to use Lean In names under a license from leanin.org, as part of the Regional Leaders Programme. The first event, which was one of the largest Lean In events in the MENA region, was held in January 2016 where 200 women participated.
Recently Lean In Pakistan organized a trade exhibition entitled ‘Treasures and Trends- A miniature fair’, that took place at Ladiesfund head office in BRR Towers. The chief guest of the evening was Nadeem Hussain, who is the founder and Coach of Planet N, as well as ex-president of Tameer Microfinance Bank. After the inauguration, Mr Hussain visited each stall and commended the efforts of the women participating in the event. It was a day-long affair which saw a variety of attractive items being exhibited. There were 12 exclusive exhibitors including Safia Bano (Ladies Choice), Iram Fawad (I.F Design), Asifa & Naheed, Irum Meher (Azure), Anadil & Zeb (Anazee), Gulshan Rashid (Natural Beauty), Madiha Fatima (Nukti Dana), Soni Faisal, Rubina Kouser (ZED MARS), Shumaila Hadi (Alfiyah), Suriani Wong (Brow Works) and Bisma Bader (House of BB). The fair had all the interesting elements on display - from jewellery and natural beauty products to bridal and pret wear, to tattoos and hand bags to crafts. All in all, it was a successful event with an excellent turnover, leaving buyers happy with their purchases and exhibitors were over whelmed by the response.
- I. S
