The Event: F empowerment International Womens Day 2012

The F empowerment International Womens Day 2012, organized by the Women Activities Portfolio Council for Pakistan, took place on Sunday, April 30 at Carlton Hotel after a one month delay. The audience was about 200 women, who were looking to start businesses of their interest but didn't really know how and where to begin.


The session was opened by Kiran Dossani and Kiran Amin Mohammed, which was followed by a welcome address by Fawzia Hoodbhoy, Convener Women Activities Portfolio, Council for Pakistan.


Since the audience and focus were women, who tend to take on stress in any and every form, Mehreen Shoaib, (CEO Stimulus) addressed psychosocial issues, along with tips on how best to deal with stress, and focus on self discovery. Yogi Wajahat (Expert Yoga Trainer) continued with the concept of self discovery highlighting the importance of staying positive.  

When the audience was motivated enough to conquer the world :D they were given the option to approach any one out of the 5 entrepreneurs for an interactive session. 2 sessions, 1 hour each were scheduled during the conference.

So there were about 30 anxious ladies at Favors & More's desk at one time, the max was 20 to a table.  After a brief introduction, a volley of questions came my way, which can basically be put into the following 3 categories:

-Starting a business
-Cost calculation
-Reaching clients
-Supporting new businesses

Each query was addressed with as much detail as the time allotted allowed. I was under the impression that an hour each, would be a lot of time, and had planned to conduct a small workshop kind of thing, just to help the ladies with the basics. As we progressed I realized how wrong my assumption was, but how important that little workshop was for those present. Though we were not left with much time, I managed to squeeze in a demo in each session. Which was largely appreciated. 

I basically demonstrated a simple origami box, with the help of volunteers from the gathered audience. The volunteers got to keep their creation. :) The conference concluded with a speech by Ayesha Tahir (Entrepreneur and leading Trainer) on Managing First Impressions (Etiquettes) and  another from Farhad Karmally (Founding Director – NAVITUS) speaking on Simple truth, loving yourself, self-esteem, motivation, increasing tolerance level. 

Farhad Karmally also conducted a 'laughter therapy' session right at the end which was thoroughly enjoyed by all present.

A special thanks to Shamim Jindani for the pictures =)