March holds meaning for women across the globe; to be represented, uplifted, inspired and lauded for their contributions not just professionally, but often as unsung heroes in thriving communities.
To celebrate a decade of The Crafter’s Guild in Pakistan and to honor International Women’s Day, an award segment is being held 26th of March in collaboration with Habitt City as a venue partner, supported by PayFast, in addition to local media partners and an upcoming Eco-Green initiative, Beej.pk.
The Crafter’s Guild and Esnaf, an online marketplace for makers and creatives in Pakistan are bringing together the fraternity to give back to Marvelous Makers, commending them for their achievements over the years, as well as highlighting women in the industry who have set the bar and made their mark in their respective fields.
Recipients of the Women Who Inspire Awards include Sarwat Gilani as a Celebrity for Social Change, Ayesha Chundrigar as a voice for the voiceless, Author and Illustrator, Rumana Husain for her contributions to Children’s Literature, Sabina Khatri for her contributions to education and development (Kiran Foundation), Wardha Saleem for her achievements as a bespoke fashion designer, Insiya Syed for her work in the field of Photography, Beenish Umer for her work in the field of Film and Production, Pheby Haroon for PR and Communications, and Hiba Masood for her contributions to children’s learning and entertainment. Other awards are being bestowed upon Zoya Marri, Sara Jamil, Mehreen Ganny, Mashaell Akhter Noman, Asmaa Wali Mohammad, Amna Tauqeer, and Natasha Lakhani. Each woman has established her name in the industry in her respective domain over the last several years.
The commendations are no less significant, they identify makers who have been a part of The Crafter’s Guild platforms and excelled in their respective craft across the decade.
The event brings together women from the network of resilient entrepreneurs also discussing set backs and challenges women encounter in business. A panel discussion on social media for business is also on the cards followed by the Esnaf Open House for attendees to learn more about the upcoming platform, how it works, and how it can be leveraged for home based enterprise.
Conceptualized in 2017, Esnaf found its way to fruition during the pandemic after learning 90% of handmade work with businesses online yields an average of only 10 to 15 thousand a month for home based businesses. The amount was alarming considering this was revenue and did not imply profits despite the efforts and work young people and women project into their business. The suffering of countless online businesses and lack of resources brought Esnaf to highlight solutions to e-commerce for artists and crafters as a social enterprise. Esnaf intends to enable and financially empower artisans and craftsmen in Pakistan through its e commerce platform. The pandemic also impacted the craft community at large as all pop up events and craft fairs, which served as massive platforms for business were put on hold due to COVID.
PayFast, one of the key partners for this event introduces its digital payment solutions for entrepreneurs seeking payment gateways. It is a State Bank licensed and regulated fintech that allows any business to receive payments from their customers through a variety of online payment methods. It functions with the utmost security, mitigating loss for its clients through industry standard fraud detection and PCI-DSS certification. The company enables payment acceptance for various entities such as E-commerce merchants and retailers, freelancers, corporations and billing entities.
