Jammu/May,4: Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Parkash Ganga Thursday said the government has taken various path-breaking
initiatives to empower women and provide them with opportunities in
business sector for leading self-dependent life.
He further said mentoring and nurturing is needed to encourage women to be successful entrepreneurs to contribute in the economic growth of the state.
The Minister said this while inaugurating the Centre for Women Entrepreneurship and kick starting three-week long Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) for women being organized by JKEDI under Himayat Self Employment Scheme at Exhibition Ground.
The Centre for Women Entrepreneurship, which is first of its kind in
the state, will advance gender equality in business and provide
training, support and mentorship for women entrepreneurs.
While addressing the gathering, the Minister said the Centre has
enormous potential for helping women in overcoming some of the
barriers that they encounter and develop initiatives to increase
opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to start their own
businesses.
He further said the Women Centre will maximize public-private partnerships to increase women’s participation in the economy and implement community-based programs to spur economic growth and innovation. Its opening is an opportunity to support not only new women
entrepreneurs but also diverse ideas and perspectives, he added.
The government has also formulated various training and development cum employment generation programs for women to start their ventures and also introduced various schemes for promoting women
entrepreneurship.
In EDP, more than 40 women are participating in the program and those who will complete the training successfully will be
certified to start their units in retail, services, manufacturing and
agro-allied sectors. The trained candidates shall be provided
financial linkages under the Term Loan Scheme of the National
Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC).
Pertinent to mention that the Centre has been opened on
instructions of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who has laid special focus on creating a conducive entrepreneurial environment for women in the
State.
Among others, Director JKEDI, M.I. Parray, Director Handloom, Rajesh Sharma, Director Industries and Commerce, R.S Tara, Managing Directors, JKSIDCO and JKSICOP, R.L Tickoo and Soujanya Sharma, Chief Program officer JKEDI, Majid Manzoor Khan,
Program officers besides senior officers of various departments were
present on the occasion.
