After years of searching, PNG Women in Business now has a permanent trading venue for local, small business women entrepreneurs.
PNG WIB successfully secured a sub-lease of the Steamships warehouse property at Waigani, from City Pharmacy Limited, on a long term basis.
The property, which totals 25,000 square metres, is located behind the bmobile-vodafone office, along the Waigani Drive, and can cater for up to 200 small businesses.
This achievement, according to WIB founder Janet Sape, is a whole new door opening for the women entrepreneurs.
“It has been their cry and my cry for a very long time and this is a great start for us,” she told Loop PNG.
Sape says following from the Women in Business expo, currently taking place at the newly leased property, the place will be upgraded and used as a trading centre for the women. This will allow them to operate and grow their business and earn their livelihoods.
The call now is for collaboration with both public and private sectors to further develop this arena for women.
Satisfied with the location, Sape says the centre is safe for tourists and plans to extend trading hours from 8am to 7pm, even further after 8pm.
The 2016 women in business expo will end on September 25. Sape says the expo participants have already secured a space at the centre.