GASABO - A group of women empowerment advocates carried out a validation and idea sharing exercise on Friday on the plan and strategies formulated to enhance women entrepreneurship and total economic empowerment of women in Rwanda.

This was during a workshop organised by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Public Service and other partners in women empowerment at Hotel Novotel.

"We gathered today so that all stakeholders in the efforts geared towards promoting women entrepreneurship and economic empowerment of women, can exchange ideas and collectively validate the plan and strategies identified for that cause,” said Meciline Mukakarangwa, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Labour and Public Service.

During the opening of the workshop, the Labour Minister, Anastase Murekezi, underscored the role of women entrepreneurship and empowerment to the economic development and eradication of poverty from any society.

"The role of entrepreneurship in national development and poverty eradication is quite clear, and since women constitute the biggest percentage of the Rwandan population, promoting their entrepreneurial potentials would pay off immensely,” said Murekezi.

The minister further emphasized the importance of women right from the household levels, saying that household income is better managed by women compared to men.

That under such precedence, women should be empowered economically, and promoting women entrepreneurship is one of the ways.

The Programme Management Specialist of UNIFEM, Donnah Kamashazi, expressed enthusiasm about this opportunity, given the fact that women have been left behind in the aspect of employment opportunities and entrepreneurship despite government efforts in realising gender equality.  

"Findings show that women employment and women entrepreneurship are still very low compared to men. The stage we have reached avails us with hope and an opportunity to realise women economic empowerment through entrepreneurship and other avenues,” she said. 

Some of the challenges cited that have been barriers to women entrepreneurship include lack of collateral security, poor sensitisation that has left a big segment of the women population ignorant about programmes like loan provisions, to mention but a few.

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