Micro is Macro!
Small business is a big thing across the world, and they are the backbone of every economy. They contribute over 40% in Pakistan's economy, and provide millions of jobs.
We work with the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Women Chambers of Commerce and Industry, small business associations, universities, and other like-minded organizations and initiatives.
While promoting microenterprises, we are positively prejudiced in favor of women, and smaller districts of Pakistan, as such initiatives are primarily focused on Pakistan's urban centers.
Those who do not get such opportunities must be mainstreamed.
Seekho (Karak)
Funded by the US Consulate General, Peshawar, and in collaboration with the Office of Research, Innovation, and Commercialization (ORIC), Khushhal Khan Khattak University, Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the project provided training and exposure opportunities to the youth and faculty members on microenterprise development in the local contexts.
This was the first-ever external collaboration opportunity for the partner university (2020) and created Master Trainers for sustainability and long-term impact.
The project trained the youth, held competitions on microenterprise development, celebrated Global Entrepreneurship Day, and made six sustainable microenterprises.
SheCan
Funded by the USAID's Ambassador Fund Program (2018), SheCan partnered with six women's universities in Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Punjab. The project provided professional skills development trainings and facilitated the young women availing of various internship opportunities in their districts and Islamabad.
The project celebrated the International Day of Women Entrepreneurs to raise awareness and motivate young women to choose professional careers. In addition to collaborating with the women universities, the project engaged the Women Chambers of Commerce and Industry in the project districts. It successfully influenced young women to learn from active women entrepreneurs and professionals.
Seekho (Turbat)
Funded by the US Consulate General, Karachi, and in collaboration with the Office of the Research, Innovation, and Commercialization, University of Turbat, Turbat (UOT), Balochistan, the project provided microenterprise and professional development training to the students of the UOT in 2018.
Seekho was the first-ever development intervention focused on university youth's personal and professional development, including young women in Turbat. Seekho collaborated with the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry and connected the business community with the UOT. Working with the policy community in the provincial capital, Quetta, the project also highlighted the need to provide more development opportunities to the youth in remote districts of Balochistan.
Work Women Work
As a subgrantee of Oxfam Pakistan, CSED provided training to active women entrepreneurs on the challenge of market connectivity and removing the role of the intermediaries/agents between their products/services and the customers (2016).
Oxfam selected the top-performing beneficiaries of their project and brought them to Islamabad in nine groups. CSED undertook the final round of practical training for the beneficiaries and enabled them with market-oriented subjects.
CSED also assisted in arranging the closing ceremony that marked launching of a network of active women entrepreneurs in the project districts.