Women urged to embrace business opportunities created by government
Story by Mercy Bofu-Matinha
Women in business have been called upon to take advantage of opportunities presented by the government through capacity building and employment creation.
As the country joins the rest of the world in commemorating International Women’s Day, women in business are cognisant of the importance of capacity building and financial inclusion.
This came out at the Women in Business Conference held in Masvingo this Friday.
“Today is an important day for us as women as it was set aside to celebrate us. As we celebrate the day, we are saying there are a lot of women who are into business especially as entrepreneurs. They really need to be supported, how? Through ensuring they are trained in business skills, they are included financially and whenever there are opportunities in all sectors of the economy, let’s include women,” said one of the businesswomen.
Another added, “We appreciate that the government put up the Women’s Bank, let us collaborate as women form cooperatives and get financial support.”
Women were also challenged to take advantage of government’s empowerment programmes and engage in research that promotes inclusion for socioeconomic development.
“As you are aware government is running a number of programmes to ensure inclusion of all disadvantaged groups including women. We are saying be involved in such programmes be it training, availing of funds and opportunities in various sectors of the economy,” said the Director for Economics in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Mr Clever Chingwara.
Director of Great Zimbabwe University, Dr Ellen Zvobgo said, “Research plays a critical role to inspire inclusion for development, as women let us collaborate, find out the needs of all disadvantaged groups in communities and come out with solutions. Again let us partner with our tertiary institutions in carrying out those researches.”
Women have proven to be a force to reckon with, as many are taking up leadership positions in the public and private sectors.
