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Women Entrepreneurship: A Job Creation Engine for South East Europe

WE Perspectives 2015 – 2020

Regional Strategic Conference & Workshop

Hotel Europe, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, November 9-11, 2014

Conference Spot Report

The main program of the Regional Strategic Conference & Workshop was held on November 10, 2014 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The participants of the Conference came from 12 different countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, R. Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia, Sweden and Turkey) and included women entrepreneurs owning small and medium enterprises, clusters and cooperatives, representatives from support institutions (business and women’s associations, chambers of economy and commerce, gender machinery, business centers, employers’ associations, NGOs, international forums and funds), representatives from the academia sector, parliament and government representatives (ministries of economy, trade, entrepreneurship and crafts, and social welfare), international community (SIDA, RCC and representatives from the Swedish Embassy).

 

At the program panels that included presentations of strategic thoughts on women entrepreneurship for the future, participants from international, political and academia sector and women entrepreneurs recognized the importance of synergy with the EU strategies, especially Europe 2020 strategy and its priorities, South East Europe 2020 Strategy and the European industrial policy in which women entrepreneurs from SEE expect to become an active player in its developing and implementing and at the Conference they agreed to send that message to the participants of the EPC conference which was held on November 12, 2014 in Brussels.

Women entrepreneurship must be recognized at all levels (local, national and international) as a strong economic and political resource. In order to encourage women to start and develop their businesses it is important to invest in education, innovative knowledge and communication between public, private and civil sector. What is especially recognized as an obstacle for women in business is the lack of financial support which must be changed and lawmakers must introduce different types of incentives for young and women over 30 or 40 years. The level of thinking when it comes to WE must be changed in order to achieve further development. Within the quadruple helix, all the sectors must employ mutual communication and collaboration and only then positive changes can occur.

The Conference included 4 workshops related to different sectors and activities: campaigning/advocacy, policies, support institutions and practical support. During the workshop, women entrepreneurs and representatives from the supporting institutions concluded that the support from governments (especially local governments) and other institutions must be improved. This can be achieved, for example, through establishing one-stop shops in which one can find all the relevant information. Financial obstacles can be overcome by introducing various incentives, guarantee funds and by relieving new investors from profits taxes and utilities fees in the first 5 years of business. The participants of the workshops emphasized the importance of education which begins in the family, from the early age and then continues into formal education and life-long learning. It is also necessary to introduce the subject of entrepreneurship in elementary schools. It is important to break the stereotypes and end the prejudice which are still strong in the region when it comes to women in entrepreneurship.

One of the conclusions from the workshop is that it is extremely important to create strong, reliable and accessible databases on women entrepreneurship. Some countries in the region still do not have any databases regarding WE. Also, some countries do not have strategic documents regarding WE, or even entrepreneurship in general. The participants emphasized the importance of communication with political sector and presence of women entrepreneurs in ministries where they can influence lawmakers according to the specific needs of women entrepreneurs in each country. Women entrepreneurs and support institutions must influence local governments in recognizing the value of WE based on relevant statistical data and make them realize the contribution that women entrepreneurs make to their local communities in the sense of national GDP, which can only be achieved through reliable databases and systemic data collection and analyses.

The participants suggested some ideas for the future of the project and encouragement of women entrepreneurship that include active use of social media; funding through socially aware companies; breaking the stereotypes when it comes to vocational schools; establishing a web portal and newsletter for women entrepreneurs from the region for networking, exchanging experience, establishing cooperation and collaborations on the EU projects, the portal would also enable for them to suggest more fresh ideas for the development of WE.

All the participants gave their inputs for the future of the project and stated that they see the importance and the need for these kinds of gatherings. Besides such regional meetings, there is also a great need for bilateral and trilateral meetings with a smaller number of countries  in which the representatives can discuss the problems and suggest solutions in a more concrete/practical manner according to their specific needs, including potential for investments and cross-border B2B collaborations.

The Conference outputs include: The message to the participants of the EPC conference about the New Industrial Policy for Europe which was presented at the European Policy Centre Conference which was held on November 12, 2014 in Brussels; Presentation at the ILO Conference in Rome; Strong use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) which brought about greater visibility as well as numerous B2B contacts; Potential business investment between machine factory woman owner from Bosnia and Herzegovina ready to expand the business to a woman-owned business center in Croatia; Several B2B regional links and potential business plans and agreements between women entrepreneurs (over 20 women entrepreneurs from the region participated at the Conference)