Chinese Taipei and Malaysia Mitigate Pandemic Challenge by Hosting Virtual Workshop to Accelerate Women Entrepreneurship Push for a better future amidst the pandemic
On October 19, Chinese Taipei and Malaysia hosted the APEC Women-Led Start-Up Accelerator Workshop strengthening the connection of Asia-Pacific women entrepreneurs despite of the current COVID-19 pandemic. More than 40 participants from APEC region participated this grand event with the goal to empower women in the field of access to capital and market.
The Small and Medium Enterprise Administration (SMEA), Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) of Chinese Taipei and Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives of Malaysia (MECD) co-hosted this online workshop which involved stakeholders from various backgrounds including NGOs, industries, policy makers and women-led start-ups from the APEC economies to share their experiences, connect with one another and show the world that the bonds between women entrepreneurs and SMEs in the APEC region will not be broken by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Empowering Women and Building Capacities
The workshop began with opening remarks delivered by Pei-Ti Hu, Deputy Director General of SMEA, MOEA and Dr. Syahira Hamidon, Undersecretary of MECD. "In the 21st century, gender equality and the effort to women empowerment is essential to a long-lasting social transformation. it is clear that every government needs to enlist their support for a women friendly entrepreneurial environment in their respective economies." said Ms. Pei-Ti Hu.
"By recognizing the challenges that female entrepreneurs may face, and seeking out possible resources that women-led startups could utilize, we aim to facilitate female entrepreneurs with information which they can refer to when developing their businesses in the future," continued Ms. Hu, as she urges the significance of women empowerment and the essential goal of the workshop.
APEC Women-led Start-Up Accelerator Initiative
In spite of the rise in women-owned businesses, female founders still lack the financial resources for start-ups and face greater social pressure comparing to male entrepreneurs In the APEC region, difficulties regarding fund raising for women is still a common phenomenon. In Singapore, the average time for women entrepreneurs to raise sufficient funding is 9.1 months compared to 8.1 months for their male counterparts, while in Hong Kong, the average time is 9.7 months for women and 8.8 months for men. This shows that gender inequality in entrepreneurship is still an issue that needs to be overcome.
The APEC Women-led Start-Up Accelerator Initiative is a project proposed by Chinese Taipei, co-sponsored by Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines to address the topic of access to finance and market opportunities, which are two essential elements crucial for the survival and sustainability of early-stage women-led startup businesses, as well as more mature enterprises who seek to expand into foreign markets. In August, Chinese Taipei host the opening event for this project with Indonesia, and this event is the second event under this initiative. In November, one more workshop and a forum will be held in Taipei.
Through these events, Chinese Taipei will continue to cooperate with our partner economies to boost the capacity of women entrepreneurs and help to facilitate the sustainable and create a more enabling environment toward inclusive quality growth.
For further details, or to arrange possible media interviews, please contact:
Ms. Pei-Ti Hu
Deputy Director General,
Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, MOEA
02-2366-2202
bdhu@moea.gov.tw
Ms. Hsin-Yi Tseng
Section Chief,
Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, MOEA
02-2366-2257
thy@moea.gov.tw
