Woman’s council in Lae gets K65,000 boost for SME

LAE Urban local level government’s (LULLG) Council of Women last week received K65,000 to help them venture into small to medium enterprise (SME) businesses.
The money will fund the Lae Urban micro and small enterprise (SME) loan scheme to assist women with starting capital to venture into small businesses.
Lae City mayor James Khay presented the cheque to women and youth representative and Lae Urban Women’s Council chairman Sandra Robin at the LULLG chambers on Friday witnessed by the association members.
Khay said the loan can be accessed by women in SMEs as the national government’s loan scheme with the banks was as easy for simple people to access.
“There is a need to address the plight of women in SMEs so LULLG comes in here to at least provide some opportunities for our women folk to start up small businesses to sustain their livelihoods while in the city,” Khay said.
He said women needed to be recognised as their contribution to the community was significant and the assistance would help unfortunate mothers and women.
“The concern here now is our women who are living in settlements. Bank loans can only be access by those already in businesses and how about those who can only start a small business. They would be left out on that,” he said.
Khay said groups such as the Lae Urban Women’s Council could be funded to help a particular sector of women that were missing out.
Khay said he wanted to revive the micro credit scheme to provide additional financial assistance to women.
He said his office would seek funding for this.
He clarified that the funding given to Lae Urban Women’s Council could also be accessed by youths.