Staff Report Islamabad
Facebook (FB) is expanding its women-empowerment focused initiative, ‘SheMeansBusi-ness’ to bolster financial inclusion and resiliency of women-led businesses in Pakistan.
Implemented in partnership with State Bank and the USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA), the program’s new component, ‘Business Resilience through Financial Education (BRFE)’ aims at improving financial management skills to enhance the resilience and sustainability of women-led small and medium businesses (SMBs) in the country.
The US Embassy Islamabad Chargé d’affaires Lesslie Viguerie and Deputy Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Ms. Sima Kamil virtually inaugurated BRFE at an official event, with a number of senior government officials and representatives of Face-book, Chambers of Commerce, USAID, Ministry of Commerce and Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) in attendance.
Director of Policy Programs and Government Out-reach for Asia Pacific at Facebook and Global Head of SheMeansBusiness, Beth Ann Lim delivered the keynote speech, shedding a detailed light on Face-book’s objectives of ‘SheMeansBusiness’ and the newly launched Business Resilience through Finan-cial Education (BRFE) component in Pakistan along with other Asia Pacific countries.
She said ‘SheMeansBusiness’ is operating in 21 countries around the world, including Pakistan and more than 1 million women have been trained in digital skills worldwide by Facebook and its part-ners.
Facebook piloted BRFE with USAID SMEA, targeting the alumni of SheMeansBusiness digital marketing training program.
The two partners have implemented the SheMeans-Business program in Pakistan since May 2020, to enhance the digital marketing and financial literacy skills of diverse groups of female entrepreneurs from across the country.
