The Hindu

Posted: Aug 6 2010

JAIPUR: Women entrepreneurs from the member-countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will assemble here for two days beginning this Friday to discuss multi-pronged strategies for capacity building and enhancement of partnership and networking among them and raise women-related issues.

About 40 women representatives will attend the seventh executive committee board meeting of the SAARC Chamber Women Entrepreneur Council (SCWEC) being organised in Jaipur for the first time and witness some successful models for industrial development here.

The SCWEC – an arm of the SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry – comprises members of key women entrepreneur organisations from the SAARC countries. It develops and promotes women entrepreneurs in the South Asian region.

SCWEC executive committee member and organising chairperson of the mega-event, Neeta Boochra, said here on Thursday that representatives from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Maldives and Sri Lanka would deliberate on strategies for creating opportunities for marginalised women to gain self-sufficiency in a supporting environment.

The delegates will also take part in a seminar on “Encouraging innovative entrepreneurship in India” on Saturday and visit Jaipur Rugs to witness its celebrated model for empowerment of about 40,000 marginalised families by involving them in its carpet manufacturing work. Ms. Boochra, the only executive member of SCWEC from Rajasthan, said the Council chairperson, V. L. Indira Dutt, would be the first Indian entrepreneur to preside over the SCWEC executive committee meeting here.