Wemart Exhibition
- Gulmina Azam
- Jan 1, 2019
- 2 min read
Safa Gold Mall, Islamabad hosted a three-day exhibition from Friday, 7th December to Sunday, 9th December 2018. Founded by Roubina’s International and Alvi Corporation, not only was this a venture by an all-women team, its participants were also up-and-coming female entrepreneurs.
The founders of Wemart Exhibition felt that there wasn’t a safe space available for female entrepreneurs to showcase their products and craft and thus they felt a need to cater to that problem.
“I’ve observed that usually home-based sellers’ businesses die out in the first year,” said Roubina Taufeeq Shah of Roubina’s International, “We have our Sunday Bazaars and our flower markets. Can we not do a similar market for products made by women in Pakistan?”
The exhibition took up much of Safa Mall’s ground floor, packed with stalls, customers and decorations. The products featured paintings, mosaics, designer jewelry, custom-made badges, cushions and table coasters, dry fruits from Baluchistan and Gilgit-Baltistan, ethnic clothes from Kashmir and Hunza, amongst countless other products.
Not only did the products come from female business owners, some stalls even had a social initiative attached to it. Go Green, a company that made eco-friendly cloth gift, shopping, and decorative handbags, was not only committed to making Pakistan a paper and plastic waste- free country, but also provided employment to less fortunate women and gave them creative control on how to design the bags.
“Of course we all know how bad the situation with plastic bags is in Pakistan,” said Salma Adil, founder of Go Green, “But, along with that we’re also providing employment to underprivileged women since they all come from households where either their husbands don’t work or don’t earn enough.”
Nifty Artisans, another such company which helped underprivileged women by selling their knitted garments, was also featured at the Wemart Exhibition.
“I've taken up this initiative for the sake of orphaned girls and widowed women of my community. Although the designs are my own, I’ve trained these women to knit those designs and then I bring the products to such forums where they cannot go and promote their work,” said Mahwish Taseer, founder of Nifty Artisans.
For a lot of the women participating in the exhibition, their stories are of personal achievements and overcoming societal struggles.
“I’ve started working on my art so late in life so I wonder where I could’ve been if I had started earlier. However, the success that I’ve had so far has made my parents so proud. I tell my father that people used to refer to me as his daughter and now they refer to him as Jabeen Siddiqui’s father,” said Jabeen Siddiqui, founder of Mosaicist.
People from all over the country had gathered to showcase their hometown’s specialties. One very peculiar specialty was daggers and swords from Wazirabad.
“Wazirabad is known for its cutlery, crockery and daggers and they are all handmade,” said Sumbal Harris, owner of J&G.
To the participating women, the exhibition played a role of empowerment as their products gained exposure from not only domestic customers but also some international ones. As the second installment of the Wemart Exhibition came to an end, we looked forward to the third next year.
Wow! Didn’t know things like these take place in pakistan.