The National Aquatic Centre will come alive this weekend when the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security hosts its women empowerment expo, promising a range of mentorship and financial literacy opportunities.
Subject Minister Dr Vindhya Persaud on Tuesday joined sponsors of the fourth edition of WE LIFT [Women Empowerment – Leading, Innovating, Flourishing Together], at the ministry’s Lamaha Street, Georgetown office where some $9 million was handed over to the ministry for the exhibition.
The major sponsors are ENet, ExxonMobil, School of the Nations and Demerara Bank Limited.
Minister Persaud told reporters that part of the government’s commitment to the empowerment and upscaling of women is to give them technical and vocational skills for them to be financially independent.
This dynamic event aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs and advancing gender equality will take place on April 20 and 21 and there will be many opportunities to gain business skills.
“We are also partnering with a company called Ella, Inc. and this company is hosting a sort of mentorship competition where they are focusing on teenage and young adult women so they can understand the business models and they can do business pitches,” Dr Persaud said.
Pamela O’Toole, a Senior Managing Director from the School of the Nation handed over a $5 million cheque to the minister for the event. This donation is part of efforts to ensure that women owned businesses do not have to pay for a booth.
“I think the opportunity to offer women to exhibit at no cost is really remarkable… when we exhibit at any expo it’s really expensive,” O’Toole said.
Ryan Hoppie, the Communications Relations Advisor at Exxon Mobil handed over a $4 million cheque to the minister on behalf of the oil company and he said that this is important for these businesses to get much needed exposure.
Meanwhile, in a massive step to ensure these women-owned business have access to finances, the Demerara Bank Limited is offering its ‘DBL Women of Worth’ promotion that provides credit financing for educational programmes, retirement plans and investment plans. Women will be able to access financing from the bank with a lowered interest rate of eight per cent and a waivered processing fee for loans. These are efforts to assist small businesses with development, Pravini Ramotar, the bank’s Marketing Manager said.
