– as two-day conference in observance of IWD kicks off today

THE two-day virtual ‘Innov8 HER’ Summit, which gets underway today, aims to provide an avenue for women to immerse themselves in a culture of innovation and empower each other as part of wider efforts to mitigate the pervasive challenges of gender inequality.

In a recent interview, Founder of Innov8 HER and local entrepreneur, Samantha Sheoprashad, told this newspaper that this summit is primarily focused on innovative ways of advancing gender equality and empowerment for women within the ecosystem.

“A lot of women are in relationships because they can’t provide for themselves, and so they would rely on someone else and that tends to give that kind of challenge in many, many instances and as such, one of our focuses is to cultivate economic prosperity for our women through technological innovation and entrepreneurship,” Sheoprashad noted.

She acknowledged that there are structural barriers that prevent the achievement of gender equality and that leads to disenfranchisement of women. Sheoprashad, however, opined that encouraging women to immerse themselves in a culture of innovation and supporting women in their endeavours would add to the efforts of achieving gender equality.

She also noted, “The trends indicate that women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and design, and this prevents us from influencing gender responsive innovation and facilitates technological change.”

Resultantly, the summit also aims to provide a space for women to network and leverage the experience, skills and connections they each possess.

This summit has also been organised in observance of International Women’s Day (IWD), which is being observed globally, today. The virtual forum gets underway at 10:00 hrs today and features several discussions, including: economic and financial inclusion programme for women; the need for small business policy improvement, the importance of harnessing innovative and creative skills for women within the ecosystem for social and economic development, among others.