Over a period of 18 months, more than 300 women from all over the Republic of Moldova, including including the districts on the left bank of the Nistru and the Gagauzia administrative unit, have been trained to manage their businesses, 30 mentors are now ready to support women entrepreneurs, and 10 businesses run by women benefitted from grants worth to about 120,000 lei per investment project.
Aneil Singh, Head of Cooperation at the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, highlighted the impact of the EU-funded Business Academy for Women project, which supported these activities promoting the entrepreneurial environment among women, especially in rural areas. The EU official said the project was in line with the EU’s broader efforts to promote women's empowerment.
State Secretary Iulia Costin underlined the crucial role of women in the economic development of a country and in particular in entrepreneurship. By supporting entrepreneurship among women, the authorities aim to develop a community focused on encouraging the entrepreneurship of women, and to facilitate the exchange of experience among women in society.
Petru Gurgurov, interim director general of ODIMM, the Moldovan Small and Medium-sized Enterprise Sector Development Organisation, said the development of female entrepreneurship was a priority for ODIMM. He said that through the ‘Business Academy for Women’ project, an important step in the development of female entrepreneurship had been made, providing entrepreneurs with training, mentoring and access to finance.
The success of this project is that 314 women entrepreneurs from 20 districts have been trained in the field of business development. Ten of them, which are focused on the development of production capacity, the introduction of technologies and innovations or the export orientation, are also benefiting from grants for the development of the business amounting to 120,000 lei.
Grant beneficiary Svetlana Niţoreanu from Causeni referred to the importance of the growth and development of entrepreneurial culture for the local business environment. "The knowledge and skills gained from ODIMM will help us export our products. Following the training, I began exploring the potential outlets. These BAW initiatives, which aim to foster entrepreneurship, are very welcome as they open up new horizons of managing and developing our businesses."