UZBEK'S BWA TRAINS WOMEN TO BE GOOD ENTREPRENEURS AND LEADERS

By Nor Faridah Abd Rashid

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 (Bernama) -- The Business Women Association (BWA) of
Uzbekistan, one of the first women non-governmental organisations in Central
Asia, not only conducts courses on how to become good businesswomen but also on
how to become leaders.

Dildar Alimbekova, founder and chairwoman of the association which was set
up in 1991, said that some of its members are now senators, parliament deputies,
and city and district deputies.

"The association not only strives for members to become good businesswomen
but also to be good leaders," she told Bernama in an interview in Tashkent,
Uzbekistan's capital, recently.

She said that BWA, which also has a close relationship with its Malaysian
counterparts, provided leadership training apart from creating favourable
conditions for women's participation in the process of forming market relations.

Touching on the relationship between BWA and its Malaysian counterparts,
Alimbekova said she found that Malaysian women business associations were also
carrying out similar programmes.

Due to this, BWA sent 10 women to be trained in Malaysia and they returned
with more knowledge on the various aspects of businesses, she said.

"They have managed to improve their business skills," she added.

Alimbekova said these women were mostly from the villages and apart from
Malaysia, they were also sent to other countries like India.

She said that BWA provided training for these women villagers to improve
their skills, especially in handicraft.

"We help them to develop the handicraft industry and find markets for the
products through exhibitions held," she said.

Elaborating on the association's activities, Alimbekova said poverty
reduction programmes had also been successfully implemented through assistance
in business development and guiding entrepreneurs on the basis of modules
developed by the association.

The association's programmes have also succeeded in producing skilled
entrepreneurs.

Out of the 50,320 on vocational training, 80 per cent have been either
employed or engaged in home labour and out of 43,000 who were given business
skill training, 75 per cent have their own business.

The BWA, which has won several international awards for its efforts in
uplifting the status of women villages and businesswomen, also provided legal
support to women entrepreneurs and created institutional legal mechanisms for
improving economic and social opportunities of women, Alimbekova said.

It allocated several rooms at its headquarters in Tashkent to train women,
especially those from the rural areas in handicraft as well as tailoring, she
said, adding that BWA also has a small shop to display and sell the handcraft
products and clothings sewn by the trainees.

On the future of Uzbek women, Alimbekova said that they were moving forward.

"The women in Uzbekistan are now more educated and they are always moving
forward to achieve their goals," she said.

According to reports, women make up almost half of Uzbekistan's 27 million
population and about 60 per cent of its working population

Under the country's elections laws, a new legislation guarantees a 30 per
cent quota in Parliament for women.

The double landlocked country declared its independence from the Soviet
Union in 1991. It held its parliamentary elections on Dec 27 last year where 270
international observers, including four from Malaysia, were invited to ensure
the "openness" of the elections.

The four Malaysians were Election Commission deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan
Omar, Asean Law Association of Malaysia secretary S. Radhakrishnan, Malay
Businessmen and Industrialists Association of Malaysia (Perdasama) president
Moehamad Izat Emir, and senior lawyer Kamarudin Ahmad.
-- BERNAMA