October 5, 2016, Lahore, Pakistan: Punjab Information Technology Board’s (PITB) program “Herself” became the first project in Pakistan to collaborate with Facebook’s economic empowerment initiatives. This was announced at the launch ceremony of Herself’s partnership with Facebook’s “SheMeansBusiness”, which was held at Arfa Software Technology Park and attended by more than 300 women from all walks of life in the city of Lahore, Pakistan.
The initiative, Herself, held a launch ceremony on November 2nd, 2016, and invited women empowerment initiatives such as Circle, Women Chambers of Commerce, Pakistan Society for Training and Development to elaborate how women can benefit from this partnership as a community.
Speaking at the occasion, Chairman PITB, Dr. Umar Saif said that the project strives to enable women to go beyond what they think they are capable of doing, prompting them to move forward. He said, “Herself is a platform that exposes women to a set of trainings, helping them to monetize their skills. With Herself collaborating with Facebook’s #SheMeansBusiness, I can foresee an increase in women’s participation in the workforce and leadership.” He further added: “The Pakistani female community is poised to go above and beyond its male counterparts with the right aspiration and motivation.”
Appreciating Pakistan’s positive move towards women’s economic empowerment, country head of South Asia for Facebook’s #SheMeansBusiness, Ritesh Mehta remarked: “The Facebook team is very excited to launch their very first initiative promoting economic growth in Pakistan.”
Nabeel A. Qadeer, Director Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development emphasized the importance of inculcating a sense of leadership and governance among aspiring female freelancers and entrepreneurs.
Keeping in view the theme, co-founder, Mangobaaz – an online information and entertainment company that generates content for the digital generation of Pakistan, Ali Gul gave a talk on ‘How to have a digital voice.’
Founder, The A factor and head of TEDxBarcelona, Aurélie Salvaire stimulated the crowd with a fun activity, followed by a discussion on the importance of women economic empowerment and dreaming big. Head of Strategic Product Partnerships at Facebook, Jennifer Fong and Founder, Olomopolo – media production company, Kanwal Khoosat also mentored the crowd through a panel discussion on ‘How to convert your passion into a way of life’ moderated by Sarah Tariq Gilani, Program Manager, Herself and TechHub Connect. This was followed by a Q&A session.
Through Herself’s collaboration with Facebook’s #SheMeansBusiness, the social media giant is set to share its expert trainings on how women can leverage Facebook, and Instagram to boost their businesses. Through the alliance, Herself is set to provide Facebook with case-studies of local successful women to be published on the latter’s global website kicking off global marketing for the Pakistani women.
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facebook.com/herselfpk
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