The Government of Fiji recognises that women entrepreneurs are critical to economic growth, peace and prosperity. The Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation (MWCPA) is leading the effective implementation of the Catalysing Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE) project in Fiji in close partnership with UNESCAP and all relevant stakeholders. This initiative is in response to the Government of Fiji’s commitment on the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment and realisation of SDG 5 on Gender Equality and multiple related goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
These were the sentiments shared by the Assistant Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Veena Bhatnagar while officiating at the ICT Capacity Building Training on E-Commerce and Digital Marketing to Women Entrepreneurs in Suva this morning.
Assistant Minister Bhatnagar stated that most of this workshop participants are fire victims of the 2020 fire that destroyed the Suva Flea Market.
“The fire affected more than 100 market vendors, mostly Women-run Micro Enterprises (MEs) and Self Employed Women. Due to this catastrophe, most market vendors are left without adequate options to recover as they gradually come to terms with the tragedy that has befallen them and the twin crises of COVID-19 and TC Harold. I thank all women for their resilience in the face of disaster”.
Assistant Minister Bhatnagar said that the objective of the ICT Capacity Building Training on E-Commerce and Digital Marketing is to strengthen the capacity of women entrepreneurs to utilise ICT tools in support of their businesses.
“This platform will also increase understanding of the business environment that women entrepreneurs operate in, which can inform future actions by policymakers to create a more conducive and gender responsive business environment. The training will also equip participants with the knowledge and resources to offer this training to more women entrepreneurs in the future”.
“In July 2019, the Government of Fiji in partnership with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) launched the ‘Catalyzing Women’s Entrepreneurship project. This regional initiative is a 5-year Programme (2018-2023), funded by the Government of Canada”.
Assistant Minister Bhatnagar highlighted that the CWE project aims to strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems that foster women’s entrepreneurship, enhance women entrepreneurs’ access to capital through innovative financing mechanisms, and increase women entrepreneurs’ use of ICT through relevant training and tools. These results are envisaged to be achieved through:
· Gender-responsive entrepreneurial ecosystem capacity development
· Innovative financing mechanisms
· Women ICT Frontier Initiative
The Assistant Minister stressed the importance of striving to continue to promote women’s economic empowerment and to create an equitable enabling environment for women.
She acknowledged the Government of Canada and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) for providing the funds and programme for women empowerment in Fiji. She also acknowledged the presence of Mr. Kenneth Katafono who will be facilitating the training in the next three days and the staff of the Department of Women for coordinating.
Ms. Sesenieli Tagitagivalu, 59 years old from Lami, thanked the Ministry for providing this ICT Capacity Building Training on E-Commerce and Digital Marketing that will help them to promote their business locally and abroad.
“I am selling handicraft products at the Suva Flea Market and the three disasters that occurred at the Flea Market have affected our business. We found this training to be very beneficial. It will help us revive our business, and we will also learn from it and share it with other women in our area.
Mrs. Dee Kwain, 74, from Nadi, said that she had no idea how to market products using Social Media Platforms. “For me and most of the participants, this training will be an eye-opener. This will be a new initiative for me and will help a lot with my business growth”.