MP encourages women to use initiatives

GAZELLE MP and Jelta Wong has urged women in his electorate to take advantage of the district’s announced support of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to increase their participation in the sector.
Wong highlighted this during the presentation of an initial seed capital of K200,000 to the East New Britain Savings and Loans Society (ENBSL) to empower local women’s SMEs on Monday.
He presented the cheque to ENBSL’s member services and branch support officer Shirley Kabavas.
Wong who is also Minister for Health and HIV-AIDS, said the funding would be parked in the ENBSL and established women’s associations in the district’s five local level governments could access the funds as loans with a loan repayment interest rate of one per cent.
He said the initiative was similar to the Gazelle school fee loan scheme that was currently being rolled out in the district by ENBSL.
“I urge women in our five LLGs to share experiences of growing their SME with other women to help them grow their businesses too,” he said.
“Let us work together to grow the SME sector in our communities as part of our contribution towards the Government’s overarching policy of economic empowerment.”
Kabavas commended the Gazelle development authority for the continuous dialogue and partnership with ENBSL that had resulted in initiatives such as the Gazelle school fee loan scheme and Women in SME programmes.