– event launched yesterday
THE first ever Women’s Expo scheduled for the Guyana National Stadium at Providence, during the period May 27 to 29 has already attracted confirmation from 100 women producers and interest continues to grow. This disclosure was made yesterday by Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand at the grand launch of the inaugural event at the Guyana International Conference Centre (GICC).
Under the theme ‘Feminition’ the expo which, it is hoped, will become an annual event is another on the Minister of Human Services and Social Security’s agenda to promote women’s empowerment through the overarching objective of stimulating women’s entrepreneurship, and showcasing artistic talents, and professional occupations among others.
The three-day exhibition will showcase women producers and their work including agencies in commerce and other sector offering products and services catering to the needs of women.
On the roster of activities is a concert featuring all female artistes including Allison Hinds from Barbados. Other activities include fashion shows.
A special committee has been set up at the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security to administer the successful staging of the Expo which has been in the making since the launch of the Women of Worth (WOW) programme.
WOW was launched in June last year, catering specially to the empowerment of single parent women through the fast tracking of micro finance to women, single parents for the start up of small businesses.
Head of Credit at the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Shaliza Shaw, who was also at the launch, reported on the success of the programme and highlighted the overwhelming response of women single parents.
The bank has recorded a proliferation of 1,111 applications to date and has already approved and disbursed over 700 loans with a total value of $154M.
GBTI has committed a total sum of $500M to the WOW programme and communities in Linden, Berbice, Essequibo Coast, Buxton on the East Coast of Demerara and Fort Wellington, Region Five have all benefitted through outreach programmes.
WoW is a partnership effort of the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security and GBTI, a partnership which Minister Manickchand hailed as exceptional, affording women an opportunity never before offered, to establish and expand their businesses.The minister said that the global struggle for gender equality and challenges of domestic violence languished to some extent.
“We don’t get to see the artistic potential women are capable of and we don’t get to see the various different capacities that women can act in and as a result of that we rob our families of all the things that we can give and we rob countries from developing as far as we can develop,” Minister Manickchand said.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who was also at yesterday’s launch, addressed the issue of gender equality expressing the belief that the task of nation building is dependent on both sexes. He also acknowledged the outstanding contributions women make in the field of academics and their influence in traditional, male dominated arenas.
During the launch, success stories of single parent women who are part of the WOW programme were chronicled.
Expert advice on entrepreneurship was also offered by Managing Director of D&J Shipping, Lucia Desir.
Source: (GINA) https://guyanachronicle.com/2011/04/14/100-producers-confirmed-for-first-ever-womens-expo