Women Entrepreneurship Council

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Branden Bruce
5 years ago
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1 Women Entrepreneurship Council

2 Gender equality and women economic empowerment represent some of the key preconditions for stable economic development. Problems faced by women entrepreneurs in Serbia are equal to the problems that are generally faced by SMEs not only in Serbia but also in the wider region and Europe administrative barriers, the lack of transparency and predictability of the policy framework for a sustainable business environment, high public spending, problems in access to finances. e majority of undertaken activities to support women entrepreneurship both by the Government and NGOs, different business associations and chambers, have not produced considerable results so far. ere is a strong impression that all forms of support have been largely occasional and there was a lack of synergy and coordination among their providers and organizers of activities. In addition, the sustainability of many activities has disappeared with the completion of donor programs. e recognition of such development as well as the fact that the women entrepreneurship is a very important economic issue of a strong relevance for employment growth were the key factors for the chamber network of Serbia to launch initiative for the establishment of the Women Entrepreneurship Council (the Council). e Council is set up as the advisory body of the Management Board of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia whose members are the representatives of companies delegated by the chamber network system sixteen Regional Chambers of Commerce, two Provincial Chambers and Belgrade Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

3 Mission and objective Why to set up the Women Entrepreneurship Council? e basic idea to establish the Council is the importance of networking in order to create a synergy of quality and of impact of strong advocacy of interests of women entrepreneurs before stakeholders of the legislative and executive authorities. e key objective of the Council is to launch initiatives that relate to issues of a sustainable development of women entrepreneurship aiming to contribute to resolve the problems of unemployment, to strengthen the competitiveness of the Serbian economy and to achieve EU standards of social and economic development. Also, the Council aims to promote women entrepreneurship, examples of good practice and to ensure better coordination of activities related to the issue of women entrepreneurship and to enable networking of women enterprises at national and international level. e Council initiates and promotes activities for women economic empowerment in coordination with other NGOs organizations in Serbia dealing with issues of women entrepreneurship, gender equality and equal opportunities. Given that one of the most serious obstacles to the development of women entrepreneurship is the lack of access to finances, a primary goal of the Council is to advocate before the Government of Serbia for the establishment of the Guarantee Fund for women entrepreneurs and thereby to encourage the commercial banking sector to finance women enterprises.

Activities of the Council e role of the Council is to ensure better coordination and support

professional assistance and support to women entrepreneurs and their associations To examine

policies and legislation to women businesses To initiate proposals that deal with

that contribute to the development and promotion of women entrepreneurship as well as to

4 Activities of the Council e role of the Council is to ensure better coordination and support the following activities: To advocate interests of women entrepreneurs To provide professional assistance and support to women entrepreneurs and their associations To examine issues of importance to women entrepreneurship and to analyze the impact of economic policies and legislation to women businesses To initiate proposals that deal with appropriate resolving of important issues to women entrepreneurship To propose activities that contribute to the development and promotion of women entrepreneurship as well as to organize activities that enable their implementation To encourage the development of women entrepreneurship through networking

5 To promote women entrepreneurial culture and values in order to establish more women businesses and support the development of the existing ones To organize educational programs (seminars, presentations, training, workshops) aiming to develop and upgrade entrepreneurial competences of women businesses To make an enabling framework for participation in projects funded from international and national funds To organize joint presentation at national and international fairs and exhibitions To carry out promotional activities dealing with women entrepreneurship Women Entrepreneurship Council web portal предузетништво Web portal of the Council provides useful information about the activities of the Council, the rules and procedures for start ups, access to finances, links on useful addresses, data basis of women entrepreneurs, projects data basis, useful brochures and contacts. For all questions, advices, proposals and suggestions write to the Council on For more information visit us on

6 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF SERBIA WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP COUNCIL Resavska 13-15, Belgrade Tel: Fax:

Advancing women s entrepreneurship training policy and practice challenges and. developments MOLDOVA

Advancing women s entrepreneurship training policy and practice challenges and Emilia Cebotari SBA Coordinator (replacing person), Ministry of Economy developments MOLDOVA Association Agreement and DCFTA