Startup Cup, Pasha ICT Awards, USAID SMEA Grants, local rounds of Uber Pitch, She Loves Tech and now LIFT Pakistan 2019; the winning streak of NIC Peshawar’s Startup is going on and on. Misbah Faiz, the boss lady of Khawateen Rozgar Services (KRS), bagged the Growth Centric Award at Lift Pakistan 2019. She was applauded during the conference for the amazing work she is doing to uplift the women participation in workplace and promotion of inclusiveness in the society. Talking about her vision for KRS, Misbah said,
“My vision for KRS is to become the voice of women. I aim to provide financial independence to women but with dignity and respect.”
Pakistan is the fifth worst country in the world when it comes to the Gender Disparity in economic participation and opportunities. The World Economic Report on Gender Gap Index (2018) indicates that it would be centuries before there would be gender parity in workplace in Pakistan. These number even go worse when it comes to managerial level positions, where in Pakistan only 7% of women hold any kind of managerial level position.
The world economic forum’s report indicates that these meek figures are because of the absence of opportunities for women workforce but according to Misbah, the problem goes even deeper than just the absence of opportunities. The workplace culture of Pakistani organization is very male centric and women have to face many problems to first get into such workplaces and then to survive there.
The business model of KRS is two-folds, they are not just providing women with these employment opportunities but also trying to make workplaces safer and friendly for women. At NIC Peshawar, the founder is working with her coach Sayyed Ahmad Masud to materialize her mission. According to her,
“NIC Peshawar is a ladder towards the acceleration of KRS. I was stuck but now I know where I am heading.”
With a database of over 9,000 women, KRS has helped 379 women to land in jobs in 35 international and national organizations. These women have earned more than PKR 1.78 Million through the jobs that they got with the help of KRS. The vision of KRS is financial independence of women towards an inclusive society and they are steadily headed towards that goal.