Apec Iconograph hints at women’s $1T economic impact

THE EXPORT promotions arm of the Department of Trade and Industry has unveiled an exceptionally curated iconography celebrating the stories of women leaders who have contributed significantly to the development of their economies in the Asia-Pacific region.

“The Iconograph,” set by the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (Citem) and unveiled at the upper lobby of the Philippine Interna- tional Convention Center (PICC) featured sixteen extraordinary women from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) for helping lead their communities to economic sustainability.

The Iconograph, according to Citem, bolstered recent findings about the increasing role of women in economic development, locally and globally

Women-owned entities have been cited in a Harvard Business Review’s online report as representing around 37 percent of global enterprises.

The report included data gathered by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor showing a total of 224 million women in business contributing to the global economy. Yet, the data covered only 67 of the 188 World Bank-recognized countries.

The women-owned businesses were expected to contribute $1 trillion to the gross domestic product in emerg- ing economies alone and in terms of merely female employment. This projection, however, was conditioned on narrowing the gap between the male and the female in labor participation, to which the women-owned entities could immensely contribute.

“For these financially-empowered female leaders who deserve the best for all their hard work, determination and vision, we collaborated with the Apec delegates to identify the women icons from Apec’s 21 economies who could best personify such virtues and achievements,” said Citem executive director Rosvi C. Gaetos.

“At the same time, Citem transformed the PICC’s main lobby into Luxe Philippines, featuring the Philippines’ finest home, fashion and food exports,” Gaetos pointed out.

Luxe highlighted a retail merchan-. dise one-stop-shop, presenting exclu-

sive luxurious design collections. It also showcases a curated exhibition led by the top purveyors of Philippine design—Budji Layug, Josie Natori, Kenneth Cobonpue and Bea Valdez.

“We have to showcase our finest export products to match the discerning taste of these topnotch female entrepreneurs from all over the world,” Gaetos said of the participants in the recently-concluded Apec Women and the Economy (Apec WE) 2015 Fora.

The selection of companies focused on the participants of Citem’s signature events Manila FAME and Ifex Philippines, all having attained significant levels of international exposure and popularity to be easily recognized by a good number of the Apec WE 2015 Fora delegates.

Multi-awarded fabric exporter and community leader Leonarda Capuyan was selected among the world’s women icons as featured in the Iconograph,

The exhibit was exclusively for the attendees of the Apec WE 2015 Fora.

“Most importantly, our exhibits showcased products that were mostly designed and crafted by Filipino women,” Gaetos stressed.