Two years later and women’s centre still staying on course

THE PNG Women’s Business Resource Centre in Port Moresby yesterday celebrated the second year it has been supporting women’s economic empowerment in the country.
Country director Eli Webb said the centre had helped to build an entrepreneurial ecosystem for Papua New Guinea with the focus to empower women in business.
The centre is a joint initiative of the Australian and the United States governments under the management of the Centre for International Private Entreprises (Cipe).
“Our areas of expertise include business association development advocacy, anti-corruption and business ethics, democratic governance, women economic empowerment and the cultivation of entrepreneurial ecosystem in emerging markets,” Webb said.
“We also recognise networking and research opportunities for the women who are already working.”
The programme manager for Cipe’s East-Asia Pacific team, Sarah Yun, said the centre had helped more than 800 women since it started in 2016.
“When we first started this initiative, it felt like a huge challenge to even opening up the centre,” she said.
“Having 800-plus women coming to the door for the services provided says a lot about the programmes and we are thrilled about this.
“We’ve also utilised the centre to host multiple workshops and are starting to regularise the workshops that we offer here.
“We offer Finance Fridays for financial literacy and financial management courses on Fridays, Website Wednesdays are for digital marketing and utilising the social media for businesses on Wednesdays.”