President Islamabad Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IWCCI) Farida Rashid on Friday said First Women Bank Limited (FWBL) has been rendering invaluable services by promoting education, self-reliance and economic prosperity and women empowerment. “Government should allocate additional funds to FWBL to speed up its expansion plans while focusing underdeveloped areas of the country” she said this after inaugurating a 2-day expo here at FWBL’s Business Development and Training Centre here today. Former President IWCCI Alia Ikram, office bearers and members of IWCCI, Business Development Head of FWBL Parveen Khan and others were also present on the occasion. Lauding the initiative of holding expos for women, the IWCCI President said that economic empowerment of women through capacity building, skill development, provision of information and networking is imperative for national development. Mark up for women borrowers should be slashed, procedure of loans should be simplified and number of women employees in all spheres of life, particularly in the banking sector should be increased, she demanded. She appealed to the government to take more interest in women development initiatives to enable them to come out of poverty. “We need more institutions designed, managed and run by the women, for women”, she said. On the occasion, Parveen Khan said that the bank will continue to strive for economic empowerment of women by applying all available resources to enhance their capacity and make them productive part of the economy.
