The inaugural Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) was celebrated yesterday at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the US, along with 144 countries across the world including Bangladesh.
The event, organised in partnership with the US Department of State.
Wendy Diamond, an entrepreneur, humanitarian, pet-lifestyle expert and animal advocate, is the CEO and founder of the WED. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo gave his support to promote the day as well. Global partners for the day include PricewaterhouseCoopers, BNP Paribas Bank, Nestle, Microsoft, United Nations Foundation, PVBLIC Foundation, and Global Partnership Forum.
The mission of the WED is to celebrate, support and empower women worldwide. The main initiative is to engage women and men globally to pledge their support with a female-owned business.
Bangladesh celebrated the day along with the world yesterday. With Naila Husain Chowdhury as the WED ambassador from Bangladesh, the core team from the country includes Rubina Husain Farouq, Vidiya Amrit Khan, Tootli Rahman and Tareen Hossain Manju.
A round table discussion was featuring 50 successful woman entrepreneurs from all sectors in the country. The keynote speakers at the event were Rokia Afzal Rahman, president at the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ann Barrows McConnell, director at the American Center in Dhaka, Rubana Huq, managing director of the Mohammadi Group, Tasmima Hossain, editor of the fortnightly magazine Anannya and former member of parliament, and Dilruba Ahmed, principal at Little Jewel’s School in Chittagong.
