OFFICIAL OPENING SPEECH

YB DATO’ SRI ROHANI ABDUL KARIM

MINISTER OF WOMEN, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

GET TOGETHER and NETWORKING

of
GLOBAL BUSINESS ORGANISATION
FOR CHINESE WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS, MALAYSIA

ON

27th MARCH 2017

AT
BERJAYA TIME SQUARE, KUALA LUMPUR

SALUTATION

1. YBhg Tan Sri Dr Ng Yen Yen

Advisor
Global Business Organisation For Chinese Women Entrepreneurs,
Malaysia

2. Mrs. Li Shu Ying

Chairwoman
Global Federation of Chinese Business Women, Taipei

3. YBhg Dato’ Grace Oyan

President
Global Business Organisation For Chinese Women Entrepreneurs,
Malaysia

4. YBhg Datuk Yatimah Sarjiman

Director General, Department of Women Development

5. YBhg. Dr. Anjli Doshi

Deputy Director General, National Population And Family Development
Board

6. Mr Chang Ji Ping
Representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia

7. Members of Global Federation of Chinese Business Women, Taipei

and Global Business Organisation for Chinese Women Entrepreneurs,
Malaysia

8. Members of the Press and Media

9. Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Salam sejahtera dan Salam Negaraku Malaysia.

Tar Chia How (everybody good)
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INTRODUCTION

1. First and foremost, I would like to express my joy in being among a

wonderful group of women entrepreneurs who are changing the world,
as we speak through your businesses. I must say that I am inspired and
genuinely admire your strength, commitment and perseverance in
juggling the many roles that you play. We all know that it is not easy.
So, congratulations ladies.

2. My sincere thanks to YBhg. Dato’ Grace Oyan and YBhg. Tan Sri Dr.
Ng Yen Yen for inviting me to this great occasion. I would also like to
congratulate Mrs. Li Shu Ying, Chairman of Global Federation of
Chinese Business Women of the Republic of China and the committee
for putting such an effort in establishing Global Business Organisation
for Chinese Women Entrepreneurs in Malaysia. Let’s give a round of
applause to this hardworking team.

3. We are here this evening to celebrate you, the women of wonders and
the involvement of women’s roles in the society. Women are
accustomed to juggling roles from being the managers of their homes
to being leaders of their society. All of you women in this room are the
epitome of the Women of Wonders. Let us all take pride in that and
together celebrate the women entrepreneurs with all of you present
here, tonight.

4. I have made to understand that since the establishment of Global

Federation of Chinese Business Women in the Republic of China in
1994, they have successfully recruited 20,000 Chinese women from 17
countries including Malaysia. Well done!
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Ladies and Gentlemen,

MINISTRY OF WOMEN FAMILY AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

5. Before I proceed, allow me to explain briefly about my ministry. The

Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development was
established in 2001 and has six agencies under its administration
including the Department of Women Development. Its mission is to
integrate women’s concerns into society and to mainstream women’s
perspectives into national development. MWFCD‟s five chief
objectives are to: -

i. increase the participation and active roles of women,

families, and communities in development,
ii. preserve the rights of women, families, and communities
without discrimination,
iii. provide equal opportunities to women in social,
economic, and political realms,
iv. strengthen family institutions, and
v. support a fair and effective services delivery system.
KPWKM has worked to support women entrepreneurs
and women’s economic empowerment.

EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

6. Empowerment of women is a socio political ideal envisioned in

relation to the wider framework of women rights. Realizing that,
National Policy on Women was established in 1989 and reviewed in
2009 guide various sectors to issue more detailed policy documents
that are sector specific. Sector will be able to ingrate the principle
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contained in this policy framework into their prevailing policy, strategy

and programs documents. A comprehensive plan of action
encompasses of the 13 pillars within the policy framework namely
women in education, politic, environment, economy, media, science
and technology, sports and legal aspect and etc. The main objectives
of this policy are to ensure an equitable sharing in the acquisition of
resources, information, opportunities and benefits of development for
men and women. The objectives of equality and justice must be made
the essence of development policies which must be people oriented
so the women, who constitute of 48.7%, nation's population, can
contribute and realize their potentials to the optimum; and to integrate
women in all sectors of development in accordance with their
capabilities and needs, in order to enhance the quality of life,
eradicate poverty, ignorance and illiteracy, and ensure a peaceful and
prosperous nation.

7. A diverse, multicultural society, Malaysia has long welcomed

women’s participation in economic activities. Nearly half of all women
are active in the workforce and women account for 60 percent of the
labor force in key industries, such as the financial services sector,
while the manufacturing sector is the largest employer of women in
the country. Women play an important part in the country’s economy
as corporate executives in multi-nationals, CEOs of enterprises from
small to large, as well as in the leading government roles. The
Ministry also got the Government to agree towards achieving a
minimum of a 30% representation of women in decision making
positions in the public sector. In the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011 to
2015) for example, women’s agenda was one of the main focus,

particularly in the economic development with a specific target to

increase female labour participation rate from 53.7 percent in 2014 to
54.1 percent in 2015, as well as to increase the number of women in
the decision-making position.

WOMEN IN DECISION MAKING

8. Efforts will be intensified to increase the number of women in decision

making positions. In line with this, women will be given greater
opportunities to acquire the necessary knowledge and experience
including in areas of entrepreneurship. “Back to work” programmes
to encourage qualified women who have been out of the workforce
due to family or other commitments, will also be expanded through
collaboration with the private sectors. The objective has been
extended to 59 percent in the 11th Malaysian plan (2016 to 2020). A
lot of effort has been done to empower women in Malaysia including
in business and entrepreneurship area. Notwithstanding national
Policy on Women, the discourse on women’s empowerment has
been gradually evolving over the last few decades, wherein the
paradigm shifts have occurred-from seeing women as mere
recipients of welfare benefits to mainstreaming gender concerns and
engaging them in the development process of the country.

IWFCI MALAYSIA

9. The government through the Ministry and also in collaboration with

other ministries and agencies, has undertaken many initiatives in

supporting women, in family life, in the workplace and in the national

economy. Recently, I have been elected as patron for the
International Women’s Federation of Commerce and Industry
(IWFCI) Malaysia. For your information, IWFCI is a non-profit and
non-government organisation that was formed by the founder in
Melbourne Australia in 1992. It provides women entrepreneurs
access and resources to participate in business and networking
opportunities in the global marketplace through its 16 million affiliated
members internationally.

10. YBhg. Dato’ Elaine Teh, a very successful entrepreneur in

Malaysia and international has helped us initiate our chapter which
made Malaysia the 12th nation to establish the chapter after Australia,
Bangladesh, China, Dubai, India, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Russia,
Singapore, USA and Vietnam. IWFCI Malaysia is aimed at creating
opportunities for the development of members by assisting them with
engaging and facilitating with other fraternity and relevant bodies in
the areas of business domestically and globally.

11. As such the establishment of IWFCI Malaysia as an NGO will create

new horizons for increasing women's interests in the field of
commerce and industry. In conjuction of National Women’s Day this
year on 4th of September, there will be an International Entrepreneur
Forum organised by IWFCI with theme “Women...Changing the
Global Economy”. This would be another milestone for women to
leverage not only in the labour workforce, but to reach greater heights
in these fields. I hope that Global Business Organisation for Chinese
Women Entrepreneurs in Malaysia can be together with IWFCI in
promoting businesswomen internationally.
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Ladies and gentlemen,

CLOSING

12. Today’s gathering was very important in inspiring women to be

responsible entrepreneurs and to be driven to scale their businesses.
All of you women should become responsible entrepreneurs because
you are not just building businesses for yourselves, you are job
creators. You are now making it possible for other women to have
their own financial independence. You are role models to inspire our
girls to follow their dreams. That dreams are achievable and they too
will bloom like you, to become leaders of their destiny.

13. We hope that every one of you who are here throughout the day
would be able to apply the knowledge and the network that you gain
to build businesses that are high value and leverage on the ASEAN’s
market. The ministry will continue to support this effort and will further
engage and explore potentials of bringing our women entrepreneurs
to other market through strategic partnerships. The world is your
market. Dream bigger, do big. We are here to facilitate you.

14. Again, congratulations WCWCAM on catalizing women to be part of

the nation’s economic growth. Congratulations to all of you for being
present today.

All the very best for the new establishment of Global Business
Organisation for Chinese Women Entrepreneurs in Malaysia

Thank you, Terima kasih, Sieh Sieh

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