Africa-Press – Liberia. The Federation of Business Women Entrepreneurs (FEBWE) Liberia has launched its first women in business roundtable dialogue on the country’s business climate.
The launch, which brought together women entrepreneurs to discuss five thematic areas, including registering a business, access to finance, trade, and investment, and women leadership, good governance, and development, took place at a resort in Sinkor, Monrovia.
The roundtable dialogue provide an opportunity for business women in Liberia as well as the Liberian U.S. and Canadian diaspora to discuss and identify the challenges of doing business in Liberia and to develop recommendations for improving the business climate for women business owners.
It is also intended to improve the business climate for women in Liberia. FEBWE Liberia is hosting five (5) roundtables exclusively for Liberian women business owners in the country as well as Liberians living in the United States and Canada, etc.
In 2019, the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs launched a new State Department initiative to promote women’s economic empowerment called POWER.
The initiative leverages diplomatic resources to promote women in business and works with the private sector to establish professional networks and business environments focused on promoting women’s economic empowerment in a global context.
According to the FEBWE Liberia, the initiative will serve as a roadmap for lobbying with the legislature on policies that will ensure women business owners are treated fairly.
During the discussion, the women business entrepreneurs named training, business plan, and limited communication or information on registering a business in Liberia as key challenges Liberia businesses are faced with.
“A business plan is key because it helps you identify your targeted audience, your strengths, and weaknesses, and also know who your competitors are,” one of the participants noted.
Deborah Jackie Ward, Chief Executive Officer of JackFA Farming Enterprise, who spoke at the event, stressed the need for business women to have a business plan, noting, “If you failed to plan, you plan to fail.” She also highlighted the critical need for customer service, something she said is lacking in Liberia.
“There is a difference between you and your clients, so we should be able to train our employees to let them know that they represent the company. In this way, they would be guided and not just do anything, anyhow,” Ward added.
For her part, Augusta Mayon, owner of Yummy Yummy Artistly talked about business plans and financial plans, in commencing training for women business owners.
According to her, finance is one of the key challenges women’s businesses face since most of them are afraid to take loans from the bank due to high-interest rates. As such, she wants the organization to look in said direction.
Madam Odel Acolatse, Executive Office of Jet-Chel Service, a company that provides house-help and nanny services, agreed with previous speakers on the provisions of training and financial assistance to Liberian women’s businesses to boost their strength.
In addition to this, the team will further hold three other dialogues online for Liberian women business owners in the US and Canada and with key Government officials, heads of business organizations, and a few women business owners, at the US Embassy.
Based on the roundtable dialogues, the team will develop an action plan of measurable and sustainable recommendations to improve the business climate for women. The action plan will serve as a roadmap for lobbying the legislature on policies that will ensure women business owners are treated fairly.
The women are being supported by the United States Government, through its sponsored program, Providing Opportunities for Women’s Economic Rise (POWER).
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