Women entrepreneurs need digital skills: experts
Women entrepreneurs need to be skilled in digitalisation in order to avail the advantages of modern technology so that they can give a boost to their businesses, according to Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, speaker of Bangladesh Parliament.
"We have seen many potentials in e-commerce businesses during the pandemic so technology can help women," she said.
E-commerce has shown its importance from a gender perspective because it is a strong platform for empowerment, she said.
"Our women are suffering from some problems even in normal times such as low access to finance, training, markets and mobility," Chaudhury added.
Other major challenges faced by women entrepreneurs are inadequate access to credit facilities and a lack of accounting and managerial knowledge, she said.
If they want to avail all the opportunities of the government's digitalisation activities, then they have to be trained well, the Speaker said, adding that capacity building must also be strengthened.
Chaudhury made these comments while addressing as chief guest the inaugural session of Asian Women Entrepreneurs' Summit 2021 organised by the Bangladesh-India Business Council of Women's Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
"Women entrepreneurs still have problems of formalisation because their entities are mostly informal, so when they go to banks, the lenders ask for a trade licence which they cannot present," said Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank.
"Banks should not ask for trade licences from women entrepreneurs, rather ask whether they have a bank account or national identity card," Rahman said.
"At least for the pandemic, they should have been waived from paying VAT and tax," he said, adding that the recovery process of the pandemic should be through green initiatives.
For developing countries, poverty has increased due to the pandemic, according to Vikram Kumar Doraiswami, Indian high commissioner to Bangladesh.
"I think we need to ensure greater access to financial resources and access to information and technology, enhance opportunities for training using digital platforms and training to use digital tools to enter the marketplace, ensuring women safety and intervention against gender based violence," he said.
Financial institutions should finance women considering their business ideas since financial inclusion has a direct impact on empowering women," he said.
Participation in the supply chain, enhancing skills and capacity building are necessary for women to bounce back in achieving financial resolution, he added.
Mai al-Kaila, health minister of the state of Palestine, Selim RF Hussain, managing director of Brac Bank, and Mantasha Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh-India Business Council of Women's Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also spoke at the event.