The future of women’s entrepreneurship is built through ecosystems, not isolated initiatives, and Hakeem’s recent visit to the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Peshawar, reflects that philosophy in practice. The visit centered on meaningful discussions around KhudMukhtar Khatoon and its potential to make Shariah-compliant, asset-based financing more accessible to women-led businesses, addressing a financing gap that has historically limited how effectively women entrepreneurs in Pakistan can access capital aligned with their religious and cultural preferences around Islamic finance.
Asset-based financing structured to comply with Shariah principles offers a distinct alternative to conventional interest-based lending, an important consideration for a segment of women entrepreneurs who may otherwise avoid formal credit altogether due to religious constraints, effectively remaining excluded from structured business financing regardless of the underlying strength of their ventures. By focusing specifically on this financing model, KhudMukhtar Khatoon addresses a need that more generic financial inclusion programmes have not always accounted for, positioning Hakeem’s offering as tailored to a specific and previously underserved segment of the women entrepreneur population.
The visit concluded with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, marking the beginning of a collaborative effort to connect more aspiring and established women entrepreneurs with the financial support they need to start, sustain, and scale their ventures. This formal partnership structure gives the collaboration a defined institutional basis, moving beyond a one-off engagement toward a sustained working relationship between Hakeem and the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Peshawar, an organisation with direct, existing relationships within the local women’s business community that Hakeem would likely find difficult to replicate independently.
At Hakeem, financial inclusion is understood as truly impactful only when built through partnerships that understand the communities they serve, reflecting an approach that prioritises working through established local institutions rather than attempting to reach women entrepreneurs through a purely top-down or product-led outreach strategy. Together with the Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry Peshawar, Hakeem expressed anticipation for creating pathways that enable more women to turn ambition into enterprise, positioning the partnership as a concrete step toward expanding Shariah-compliant financial access specifically within Peshawar’s women-led business community.
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