The Balasore Chamber of Industries and Commerce (BCIC) has launched its women wing BCIC-WE (BCIC-women entrepreneur) to promote entrepreneurship among women during the ongoing national level industrial exhibition –cum- trade fair ‘Expo Odisha-2023.'
The event which has been begun here since January 24 will continue till January 29 at the ITI field. 25 women entrepreneurs have joined the BCIC on Thursday evening where OCSC MD and Sushruta Hospital and Trauma Care, Bhubaneswar, MD Chidatmika Khatua, director, DN Group Bhubaneswar, Ratnamala Swain, Superintendent of Police Sagarika Nath and Chairperson, Baleswar Municipality, Sabita Sahoo were present as guests.
The speakers not only appreciated the endeavour of the BCIC to launch such a futuristic platform for women but also encouraged the women entrepreneurs.
“The objective of having a women arm of our association is to promote and encourage women entrepreneurship. We had seven members and lately, 25 more women joined our club. Supritee Mishra and Krishna Das respectively are the convener and co-convener who would be heading the team. The wing will not only promote and propagate women entrepreneurship, it would also spread awareness among them," president of BCIC Snjay Das.
A team would be visiting different women colleges and educational institutions to disseminate information among them. They would be told about different schemes of the Central and State Governments to attract entrepreneurship. The team would also visit rural areas and would address the difficulties faced by the existing entrepreneurs, Das added.
Various sectors including service, trading and manufacturing etc. are showcasing their products. There are around 350 stalls put up by SHGs, cottage industries, besides industrial units from the State and outside.
Most importantly, various auto manufacturing industries are showcasing their models, especially e-bikes and vehicles. Since both the Central and State Governments are promoting electric bikes and four-wheelers with various incentives, the focus is to showcase such products, the organisers said.
This is the 18th year of the Expo which has been organized with the help of State's and Centre’s MSME departments and the district administration.
