The country’s First Lady Madam Gertrude Mutharika leaves the country today for New York, United States of America (USA) where, among many other engagements, she has been invited to be a Guest Speaker and panelist during the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day to be held on November 19, 2014.

This has been disclosed through a Press Statement from the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) released on Friday signed by Presidential Press Secretary Fredrick Ndala.

The invent will be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and will be handled by speaker and moderator Cathy Calvin President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UN Foundation.

According to the statement, the Malawi First Lady will be joined by Her Excellency Penehupifo Pohamba, the First Lady of Namibia at the event.

The Seminar which will be held under the theme ‘Government’s role in empowering girls and women entrepreneurs’ will discuss women entrepreneurs in recognition that they are the new engines for inclusive and sustainable industrial growth and rising stars of the economy in developing countries.

“The event is relevant to Malawi which seeks to promote women economic empowerment as stipulated in Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGD’s).

“The participation of the First Lady, therefore, symbolises high level political will on the part of government to turn Malawi women from passive recipients of handouts to active participants in their own economic empowerment”, reads in part the statement.

According to the statement, during the summit Madam Mutharika will have a chance to demonstrate how the recently launched Gertrude Mutharika Beautify Malawi Trust can be a tool for turning waste into an economic opportunity area where women can use waste as a source of income.

The event shall draw together women entrepreneurs themselves, women motivational speakers, women working in public institutions and those in Non-Governmental Organizations.