SBP credit guarantee scheme was applicable in other cities but recently more districts have been added following a long struggle made by Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (WCCI) Multan division, Masooma said.

She, however, added that SBP has not yet provided its framework to enable women entrepreneurs start availing benefits and demanded that the same should be done immediately.

Women entrepreneurs would be able to obtain loans on mark up as low as five per cent and that too on a single guarantee, she said.

She said that SBP had expanded the scheme to fourteen more cities including Multan, Rahimyar Khan, Khanewal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhang, Bahawalpur, Sukkur, Vehari, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Bahawalnagar, Hyderabad, Ghotki and Peshawar.

Masooma who is also the executive member of WCCI Multan said that WCCI has recently initiated a financial literacy programme for women entrepreneurs to give them insight into and for their training on how to deal with business accounts, how to prepare documents for loans besides tax matters.