Key Takeaways
- Pakistan excels in launching women’s businesses but struggles with their long-term sustainability.
- Tech entrepreneur Mahe Zehra Husain argues that the focus should shift from starting to sustaining businesses.
- Government programs and awards primarily measure the number of women starting businesses, not their success.
Pakistan has made significant strides in supporting women entrepreneurs, particularly in the early stages of their ventures. However, the country faces challenges in ensuring these businesses thrive over the long term.
Tech entrepreneur and author Mahe Zehra Husain highlights this gap in her new book, 'Women Rising: A Practical Guide to Building a Business You Love'. Husain argues that the current focus on launching businesses overshadows the need to support their sustainability.
In response to Business Recorder, Husain stated, 'We need to stop treating starting as the finish line. I would love to see the conversation move from 'how many women started business?' to 'how many women were able to build businesses that actually worked for them?'. '
Several government programs and awards are designed to encourage women to start businesses. For instance, the Kashf Women Entrepreneurship Award has eight main categories, including a Digital Innovator Award and a Sustainability Champion Award. However, none of these categories measure the success of the businesses in terms of their longevity or profitability.
Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan, chairman of the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, reported that beneficiaries of the Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme surged from 71,000 to more than 271,000 over the past two years. By August, a parliamentary reply from Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb updated the figure to over 104,000 young women who had received Rs. 29 billion in financing under the scheme.
Despite these impressive numbers, Husain points out that these figures do not reflect the actual success of the businesses. 'These are real numbers, and obviously they matter. But every one of them measures the same thing – how many women received financing, and how much – not what happened to their business afterwards,' she said.
Husain’s critique extends beyond measurement. She argues that the current discourse on entrepreneurship in Pakistan is too narrow, focusing on a specific type of entrepreneur. 'We talk a lot about founders who can take a risk, leave a job, work from a café, invest their savings, or spend their own money. But we don’t talk about the women who are already working and have to balance their professional and personal lives,' she explained.
The lack of a comprehensive framework to support women entrepreneurs throughout their business journey is a significant issue. Husain suggests that the conversation should broaden to include a more holistic approach to entrepreneurship, one that considers the diverse realities of women’s lives and the challenges they face in sustaining their businesses.
In conclusion, while Pakistan has made commendable efforts to support women entrepreneurs, there is a pressing need to address the gap in sustaining their businesses. This requires a shift in focus from launching to supporting and nurturing these ventures over the long term.
We need to stop treating starting as the finish line. I would love to see the conversation move from 'how many women started business?' to 'how many women were able to build businesses that actually worked for them?'
Mahe Zehra Husain, Tech entrepreneur and author
