PETALING JAYA: Mental health has been one of the key issues faced by women entrepreneurs throughout the pandemic and prolonged lockdowns, says the Women Entrepreneur Network Association (Wena).
The non-profit organisation’s president, Nuraizah Shamsul Baharin, noted that women often had the double burden of managing both their businesses and families.
“We didn’t realise how big a problem it was until we had people talking about it. It was mainly the stress of having to be at home and being a mother, teacher and businesswoman,” she said.
Speaking at the launch of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs 2.0 (AWE) today, Nuraizah said it was important for female entrepreneurs to have access to support networks to interact and share their experiences.
Another issue, she said, was women’s ability to improve their cash flow and increase capital so that they could “jumpstart” their businesses once the economic sector reopened.
Nuraizah said Wena was looking at utilising technology for upskilling, noting that the lack of telecommunication infrastructure and internet connectivity in certain parts of the country had made it difficult to reach out to some AWE participants.
AWE is a year-long business development programme under the US embassy’s Wanita Empowered campaign, which seeks to further women’s economic empowerment by improving access to education, advancing economic parity and addressing barriers to equality.
The second cycle of the programme involves 50 aspiring entrepreneurs from the Klang Valley, Terengganu, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak. It trains them through capacity building, networking and mentoring opportunities.
US ambassador to Malaysia Brian McFeeters said women’s meaningful economic participation was integral to achieving “greater security and stability” worldwide.
“When women are empowered economically, they invest in their families and communities, spurring economic growth and creating more stable societies,” he said.
McFeeters also said the embassy would be launching a programme next month to build capacity and equip young women with strategic thinking skills and content-creating ideas to advocate gender issues.
Source: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/08/19/pandemic-has-taken-toll-on-mental-health-of-women-entrepreneurs-says-group/