The Women’s Digital League (WDL), which is a local social enterprise has come into an agreement with social networking site Facebook to help advance and promote the efforts and careers of home-based women entrepreneurs throughout the country.
It is their belief that when women start earning independently, not only do they gain a newfound sense of confidence but also add to improving the overall living conditions of their families.
Before the WDL, the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) was the first in the country to collaborate with Facebook’s “She Means Business”programme. This initiative was launched by Facebook across the world on March 8, 2016, to celebrate ‘women who have built and run businesses, and delivering resources to help those who might one day do so themselves.’
The president and founder of WDL, Maria Umar had this to say: “WDL has been working to enable digital livelihood for women in Pakistan for nine years and now, we have partnered with Facebook for their ‘She Means Business’ programme which is geared towards women building and running a business,”
According to Umar, there was a plethora of women who were operating small businesses from their homes but had little opportunities to advertise their efforts. Under the programme however, women would be trained to market their products on Facebook and its partner networks such as WhatsApp and Instagram in Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar before expanding to other cities.
The ‘She Means Business’ programme has been designed specifically by Facebook in order to celebrate women entrepreneurs because according to Ritesh Mehta, head of the Economic Growth Initiatives, India & South Asia at Facebook, ‘when women succeed, we all win’. The Programme has provided training to over 50,000 women entrepreneurs worldwide.
“We will continue to work with key local partners such as the Women’s Digital League, to create economic opportunities for women entrepreneurs in Pakistan,” said Ritesh Mehta,
