KF, JS BANK JOINTLY CELEBRATE INT’L WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP DAY

Staff Reporter

Friday, November 28, 2014 – Lahore—Kashf Foundation (KF) in partnership with JS Bank celebrated International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day by lauding the achievements of its clients through an award ceremony for the most successful women entrepreneurs. The Chief Guest for the event was Barrister Shahida Jamil, former Minister of Law, Justice and Human Rights and Parliamentary Affairs and former Minister for Women Development, Social Welfare and Special Education. A panel of development experts comprising of Ms. Leslie Tinney, First Secretary Development Government of Canada, Mr. Ali Sarfaraz CEO of the Punjab Skill Development Fund, and Ms. Sadia Khan CEO of Selar Enterprises, discussed the role of finance, development assistance, and skills development in empowering women entrepreneurs. At the end, Kashf recognized 15 of its clients for excellence in entrepreneurship.

Kashf’s client Salma Kanwal who is one of the United Nations Ambassadors for International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day was also recognised at the event, where she spoke of her achievements in expanding her business through capital support and training opportunities provided by Kashf Foundation. November 17 – November 21 has been marked as International Entrepreneurs Week and November 19 is International Women’s Entrepreneurship Day. The day is an opportunity to celebrate, engage and empower female entrepreneurs.

At the event, Founder and Managing Director Kashf Foundation Ms. Roshaneh Zafar shared that Kashf had cumulatively disbursed over 2.5 million loans since its inception and trained over 800,000 women in financial education. Kashf currently has 229,000 active female clients and is currently providing micro-health insurance to over 95,000 low-income individuals. Kashf works through a nation-wide network of 180 branches. She further shared that Kashf had evolved into a wealth management company for women entrepreneurs from low-income households in order to provide a suite of pro-poor and women centric financial products and services like credit, savings, insurance, skills development, financial & business education and a special program for low-cost private schools.