WOMEN’S SUMMIT SET AT PTTC
Majority of micro, small and medium enterprises are run by women. According to the Women’s Business Council of the Philippines (WBCP), Department of Trade and Industry figures count as many as 900,000 businesses in the MSME category and about 60% of them are registered by women.
As population grows, many more women enter the workforce each year and many more entrepreneurs look for a business to get into. But where does one start? Every local government has a Gender and Development (GAD) Fund or 5% of their local budgets that go to women projects and activities. This is a law and local governments do enforce it. On the national level there also is a need to stretch the imagination on how to spend the GAD fund. There is an upcoming summit where budding women leaders can get inspiration from women from different fields, each one discussing their journey to the top, or simply, their journey in business. What I admire about these women is that they are not superwomen. They are ordinary mom’s,wives, daughters. Some are dealing with kids,jobs and family and Hormone replacement therapy in between.
The WBCP organized WOMEN CONNECT: W2W Women to Women Mentoring Summit on November 8 at the PTTC. IT is a whole day event where you can meet many inspiring women, and get familiar with other women entrepreneurs, other women-led businesses so you too can get ideas on how to get started.
WBCP's Chit Juan with We Connect CEO Elizabeth Vasquez in China Conference.
The WBCP is a non-stock, non-profit group of women business leaders who seek to advocate for more policies and laws to further empower women economically. This summit is one of the ways by which it reaches out to women who want to make a change in career, who wish to start a business or to simply take a break from work or home and listen in on other women’s experiences.
ECHOstore's Jeannie Javelosa with SPINNA Textile Alliance Head Rupa Ganguli
“We hope to inspire many more women to get into business or to find a career they wish to shift to,” says Chit Juan, current President of the WBCP. “We have many women leaders in usually male-dominated fields like IT and Innovation, Automotive Industry and also services like Law and Outsourcing,” she continues.
The WBCP represents the country’s women in international events like the APEC Women and Economy Summit, The UN Women-CIDA Women’s Economic Empowerment Conference, and the Global Summit of Women which will be held in Athens, Greece in May 2012.
You can register online for the summit through www.wbcp.ph or email wbcphils@gmail.com.
