Punjab IT Board launches entrepreneurship project ‘herself’ for female freelancers

Lahore : Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) Dr. Umar Saif said that ‎the project ‘Herself’ was an initiative that aims to empower females to learn and earn through a series of IT based trainings and workshops. He was addressing launching ceremony of “Herself” held at Arfa Software Technology Park on Thursday.

Ms. Mussarrat Misbah of Depilex Smileagain Foundation, Ms. Seema Aziz of Care Foundation, Ms. Nadia Jamil of The Empty Space and Ms. Sara Gilani of Tech Hub Connect were among the speakers. Dr. Saif said “We envision ‘Herself’ as a platform that will increase the participation of women in leadership roles and the workforce. As part of our initiatives, we believe there was never a greater need for women to explore how technology can enable them. Being a part of the Tech Industry ourselves, we have explored ways and realized how technology can help women in so many ways, especially in a place like Pakistan where women empowerment is one of the lowest around the world. All across the globe, greater female participation has gone hand in hand with economic transformation. The more women work, economies grow.

In Pakistan, this potential is not fully realized. According to world economic forum, it is estimated that Asia as a whole loses $40 billion each year as a result of gender gaps in education and employment, with women 70% less likely than men to be in employment. I hope our state of the art programs like Plan9, PlanX and TechHub Connect will fill this gap through ‘Herself’ effectively.” He told that PITB would start e-Rozgar Program to train large number of youth across the Punjab during next fiscal year.

Ms Saima Aziz advised the participants to plan their time right & prioritise the day to day activities as busy people are always happier. Ms Misbah said that economic growth goes hand in hand with female participation in the workforce. She lauded the new initiative as a vital part of Punjab’s agenda for women empowerment.

Ms. Nadia Jamil was of the opinion that young ladies must step forward and use this platform for their families and this country. Ms. Sara Gillani told that out of over 100 start-up ideas that have been incubated at Plan9 – PITB’s Tech Incubator, only 14% had been women co-founders while out of a total of 500 freelancers housed at TechHub Connect, only 10 freelancers are women. The speakers emphasized over the need of increased participation of women in business and economic activities in Pakistan.