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Pakistan will launch its first National Women Entrepreneurship Policy to catalyse financing access and accelerate growth for women entrepreneurs across the country. The government announced the policy on November 20, 2025, alongside targets including raising women’s employment to 5% (from the current 2%), increasing women-led exporters by 50%, expanding co-working spaces by 20%, and allocating 15% of SME fund proceeds exclusively to women.
According to official documents, the framework will operationalise existing measures such as the State Bank’s Banking on Equality guidelines and the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s Women Equality in Finance policy. Key initiatives include reserving 5% of the Export Development Fund for women-led export ventures and granting access to business-information platforms for at least 100,000 female entrepreneurs.
During the policy unveiling, Haroon Akhtar Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production, stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is placing women at the centre of economic decision-making and emphasised that women entrepreneurs already meaningfully contribute to national growth.
The policy also sets up a new Women Entrepreneurship Portal, supported by the Asian Development Bank’s Women Inclusive Finance Programme, designed to connect female entrepreneurs with mentorship, regulators and business support organisations. Additional focus areas include multilingual training content, digital access for non-smartphone users, and relief-zone enterprise support.
Product development initiatives are also embedded in the policy. A design cell at the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) will work in partnership with textile and fashion universities to elevate women-led export readiness, secure global exhibition participation, and support green and circular economy projects.
The policy announcement coincided with an event organised by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) and SMEDA in Islamabad, where more than 21 women’s chambers of commerce and industry from across Pakistan participated—underlining the growing role of women in the business ecosystem.
With women‐owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly recognised as engines of job creation and export growth, analysts say the new policy could mark a meaningful step toward aligning device affordability with digital-growth goals and unlocking entrepreneurial potential.
As Pakistan ramps up its efforts toward digitalisation, education technology, remote work and inclusive finance, this policy may reshape how female participation in the economy evolves in the coming years.
