Women need to be smart about creating economic opportunities through entrepreneurship.

KUCHING, Sept. 25: Women not only need to be skilled in leadership, but they also need to be smart about creating economic opportunities through entrepreneurship, opening jobs and leveraging skills to generate income.

Minister of Women, Family and Community Development, Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said that due attention and guidance should be given to women from the school bench so they can play a role in generating the economy.

He said Sarawak has a variety of unique products that can be utilized and studied by women as an opportunity to generate income.

"From where she went to school, she was trained, given her knowledge in terms of the products that she wanted to train them on so they had something they could use later and I could see some very unique products from Sarawak that could be taught to these female students so that these women could become more productive women in the future so this is among the visions us", he said.

She said this during her address at the Women's Leadership and Network Root Leaders in Care Management, Decision-Making and Sustainable Development (PTS 062) Program in Kuching on Friday.

According to Nancy, as the minister who manages the portfolio of women, families and communities, among the measures of success her job is to see more female leaders born and able to carry out activities that generate income for families.

She said women also need to have clear planning, vision and orientation so that they can take a more confident and effective step in leadership and be involved in decision-making.

In the same program, Nancy also officially launched PTS 062 Parantis involving 43 Dayak participants as a start to their journey of leadership development.

The programme is implemented in three phases comprising self- and root leadership, governance and organizational leadership, followed by community leadership, strategic networking and a 90-day Leadership Action Plan.

Guidance and reflection elements were also incorporated throughout the program to help participants build confidence, networking and the ability to apply knowledge gained after returning to their respective communities.

Phase one taking place on September 25 and 26 focuses on self-leadership and its root causes, leadership identities, strategic thinking, ethical decision making as well as community, culture and heritage.

Phase two on 16 and 17 October emphasized governance, accountability, leadership communication and conflict resolution.

Meanwhile, phase three scheduled to take place on November 6 and 7 focuses on community leadership, strategic networking, resource pooling and program sustainability, including the development of a 90-day Leadership Action Plan. -TVS