AJWELP empowers women entrep in the Asean Member States

THE Asean-Japan Centre (AJC) organized the 2nd Asean-Japan Women Entrepreneurs’ Linkage Program (AJWELP), a program that aims to empower start-up women entrepreneurs, in Jakarta, Indonesia from December 3 to 6, 2017.

It was co-hosted by the Ministry of Cooperatives and SME of Indonesia and Kamar Dagang dan Industri Indonesia (Kadin: Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry), in cooperation with Asean Secretariat, Asean Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises ( ACCMSME), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Asean Business Advisory Council (ABAC), and Asean Women Entrepreneurs Network (AWEN).

Gender equality and women empowerment are important issues for both the Asean Member States and Japan; and women are expected to play a key role in sustainable development of a society. Therefore, each country carries policies to support women’s full participation in societies, and consequently, there are schemes to support women’s entrepreneurship.

To boost this effort, AJC initiated an exchange program for women entrepreneurs in FY 2014, in which AJC invited successful women entrepreneurs recommended by each Asean Member State’s government to Japan to exchange their views with their Japanese counterparts for future joint business development.