The AVPN - Community of Practice Building Programme provided support for up to 100 women-led enterprises from Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam in their efforts to rebuild, respond and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

The programme promoted the role of resilience and collaboration in response to the post-pandemic social enterprise business landscape. 

The programme took place over 10 months and included engaging sessions which, amongst other areas, allowed learners to: 

• Actively create a long-lasting network of support by connecting with other women who were also running social enterprises across Asia. 
• Develop and learn new skills to support their enterprises' resilience through this hard time both financially and as a leader. 
• Explore the possibilities and potential of collaborating with partners and funders within their respective sectors. 

In Conversation with the Learners:

Overall, how did this programme impact you? 

It was great to be able to interact and connect with other female social entrepreneurs. Networking was a brilliant way to collaborate and it made me realise other entrepreneurs are facing similar challenges to me and that we are all in the same boat. It also allowed us to learn from each other and find the best way to support each other, which was appreciated. 

What was it like collaborating with the facilitators and other participants?

 It gave me a refreshing sense of their being light at the end of the tunnel. It also highlighted the need to look inwards first to help build yourself up. It was amazing to learn from all of the other entrepreneurs and their insights were so inspiring. The advice I received I will take on for a long time to come. 

What was a key takeaway for you?

 That there are funders and partners out there that would be interested in working with me but also social enterprises that are helping to empower women in general. The key thing that the programme has taught me is that we need to communicate the positive social and gender impact of our businesses. There are lots of different ways of doing this and this programme has shown me that and helped me develop those skills.