30 women entrepreneurs in Abbottabad were issued first-ever blockchain backed, digitally verified certificates in a business training programme at Tech Valley Abbottabad.
Tech Valley in collaboration with DEMO from Pakistan and MadLab from UK organized a training programme “Women in Business” for women entrepreneurs in Abbottabad.
This initiative is part of a project “Blockchain for Inclusive Growth” co-led by DEMO and MadLab and supported by DICE, a British Council’s program that supports the development of creative and social enterprises in the UK and five key emerging economies: Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan, and South Africa.
The project is bringing for the very first time in Pakistan, a Digital Credential Service backed by blockchain technology which will provide grassroots organisations and institutions the capability to safely issue qualifications and skill-related digitally verified certificates to their participants which can easily be shared digitally with employees and organisations which ultimately will provide people with more opportunities faster.
During the course of 3 days, more than 30 women entrepreneurs running small scale businesses in Abbottabad were taken through a series of hands-on targeted sessions led by mentors on topics including Building a team, Marketing & Branding, Handling Financial Matters, understanding market needs and utilizing growth hacking strategies to amplify the growth and outreach of their businesses.
The participants of the training programme will soon be issued first-ever blockchain backed, digitally verified certificates.
The Commissioner Hazara Zaheer ul Islam, has graced the ceremony with his presernce. He lauded the initiative and also assured the continuity of their efforts for promoting and developing entrepreneurial skills and potentials in women.
Commissioner Hazara applauded the WomenInBusiness training program and pledged to provide full support for such initiatives.
He further added that entrepreneurs have the power to transform the world for the better and they must use this power to tackle the most pressing social issues.
Many dignitaries and community leaders have graced the certification graduation ceremony of women in business. Among the community leaders were, Madam Shahina Jamil, Director Frontier Medical College, Dr. Asad Jamil, CEO Frontier Medical and Dental College, Amna Sardar, ExMPA and Social Activist, Khaula Mustafa CEO SOS Village Abbottabad, Ms. Farhana Taj, Principal Roots Millennium, and Mr. Raza Ali Habib DG Galiayt Abbottabad has shared their golden thoughts to motivate young aspiring women entrepreneurs.
Together we are motivated to develop an ecosystem to promote entrepreneurial culture in the region.
TechValley CEO & Founder, Umar Farooq “ Pakstani women participation in business is the need of the time. We have 50% women in population and they need to be in business.
We always promote initiatives to encourage and equip women with skills to be the next entrepreneur. We at Tech valley encourage women to be the women leaders on managerial post. Talking to women entrepreneurs stressed the need for developing capacity through training on business.
Amir Afaq, Deputy Commissioner Abbottabad while speaking at Women In Business Summit highlighted the fact that Pakistan’s women make up 50% of the population and have the full potential to drive the future of the country if provided with the right skills & support.
The initiative is committed to equipping women entrepreneurs in low socioeconomic areas of Pakistan with the essential business knowledge, connections, skills, and technology resources to improve efficiency in their business processes and help them launch and grow their businesses.
The blockchain-backed digital credential service aims to revolutionize the process of credentialing in Pakistan by creating an ecosystem where institutions, schools, and organizations will have transparent and digitally-trusted information to rely on.
While talking about the digital credential service, CEO of DEMO Muhammad Bin Masood shed light on how with the use of innovative technology like blockchain, outdated and tedious process of issuing qualifications and skill-related certificates can be made more efficient and secure.
The platform Blockchain for Inclusive Growth will potentially remove the limitations of regular paper-based certificates, records of which have always been difficult to trace back to the issuers.
As for the participants, we were delighted to see the women of Abbottabad come out of their homes to own and embrace Women in Business to exponentially apply the learnings from the training in their growing businesses.
A special thanks to District Government Abbottabad, Durshal Abbottabad, Frontier Medical and Dental College for kind support and help for making this possible.