Got a great business idea? If so, you might be in need of support and networking opportunities to help get it off the ground. In Serbia, female entrepreneurs, who still form a minority in the business world, often turn to the Belgrade-based Association of Business Women in Serbia (ABW) for such assistance. Established in 1998, this women-run organisation promotes female entrepreneurship within the community and among policy-makers, and also helps its members find the technical support they might need to make their business a success.
In Serbia, where there are still few government programmes and measures in place to support the sustainability of women-owned enterprises, organisations like the ABW are essential. The figures relating to women entrepreneurship speak for themselves: at present, the number of enterprises owned by women who at the same time have ownership share and managerial positions make up less than 10% of the total number of registered SMEs, compared to European Union countries where this percentage ranges from 25-35%.
As a way of encouraging women to start their own business venture and enhancing the work of the ABW and other similar Serbia-based organisations, the EU helped to fund the year-long project Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship in Serbia, which began in June 2010.
Women are doing it for themselves
With a grant of €100,000 – of which the EU contributed nearly 90% – the project undertook several different activities to boost the effectiveness of the ABW and enable Serbian business women to reach out to EU business counterparts. Chief among them was the launch of a web portal linked to the site of a women’s entrepreneurship organisation in Germany – which Serbian business women can log on to network with other business organisations and women in Germany to exchange ideas and find potential business partners.
Around 150 women registered with the web portal, one of whom was business woman Zorica Selaković, owner of the ‘Dessert’ cake shop in Čačak, western Serbia, whose experience of the site was a positive one. Says Selaković: ‘Through the new web portal, established during the project, I have been able to network with women in the food industry business in the EU. It has been so easy to exchange experiences and discuss the potential to cooperate. I look forward to taking the next step and moving forward with these business contacts.’
Closer to home, ABW got in touch with five local organisations devoted to women’s entrepreneurship outside Belgrade and organised staff mentoring on their premises so that in future they can coach any of their own members looking to make their entrepreneurial ideas a reality too. An additional tool to help motivate women start up their own companies came in the form of a booklet profiling 50 women entrepreneurs from Serbia and Germany. Moreover, during the project, the ABW underwent a strategic planning review of its own and is now in an even stronger position to advocate for policies which are favourable for women in business than before.
More information
Project: Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship in Serbia
Implemented by: Association of Business Women in Serbia (ABW) – www.poslovnezene.org.rs
jumpp- Frauenbetriebe, Frankfurt, Germany – www.jumpp.de
