WCIC in Kunming, China

Round table meeting of women entrepreneurs between China and South Asia​

Sri Lanka, the tiny island nation surrounded by the Indian Ocean, had a historical connection with the two trade routes. “When the overland Silk Road across Central Asia was blocked, [China’s] famous Admiral Zheng visited Galle [a major city in southwest Sri Lanka] in the 15th century,” said Rifa Musthapha, Chair of the Lankan Women’s Chamber of Industry and Commerce (WCIC). “He visited six times between 1405 and 1433, his intention being to open a maritime Silk Road.”

Though women comprise 52% of Sri Lanka’s 21 million population, only about 10% of the small and medium enterprises are headed by them. The WCIC, targeting to rise at least one rung higher in the ladder of success, thinks the Belt and Road Initiative will provide the stimulus they need.

“It will connect a large number of countries in Asia, Europe and Africa,” Musthapha said. “Our members include several large-scale companies already engaged in import and export. Our integration into the Silk Road Economic Belt will increase their prospects of widening their business relations. Even micro entrepreneurs’ ventures might attract international business houses. Our entry to the business worlds of so many countries in Africa, Europe and Asia, especially China, will boost productivity as well as marketability.”

Musthapha and other women business leaders from South Asia and China came together last month in Kunming, Yunnan Province’s capital and South and Southeast Asia’s gateway to China, for a roundtable of women entrepreneurs from China and South Asia. The initiative was taken to discuss cooperation and integration into the Silk Road Economic Belt.