Supporting women’s entrepreneurship: an accelerant for economic development

On 28 June 2023, the event "Accelerating economic development by supporting women’s entrepreneurship" took place, organized by UN Women in partnership with the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization and the Organization for Entrepreneurship Development (ODA), with financial support from the government of Sweden. The event presented the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the Republic of Moldova and highlighted the importance of integrated support, both financial and non-financial, for women in business.

In addition, during the event, the evaluation report of the "Women in Business" programme was launched. The evaluation covers the entire implementation period of the programme (from 2016-2022), based on interviews, focus groups and an online survey, being developed based on the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria – relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, coherence, impact and sustainability. The evaluation concludes that the programme has made effective progress in supporting businesses founded by women by providing them with access to training, mentoring and non-repayable financial support.

Present at the event was Veronica Arpintin, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization who quoted: "Currently, the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization, together with the Organization for Entrepreneurship Development, have developed a new programme to support women’s entrepreneurship, which will aim to stimulate women's entrepreneurship by supporting the development of enterprises established and managed by women. The concept of the new programme will include financial support for both newly created businesses and developing companies. Moreover, it will focus on the priority areas of activity and the real needs of women entrepreneurs. The goal is to increase the number of women entrepreneurs, thus ensuring economic growth."

Ana Calinici, MP, Legal Committee, Appointments and Immunities said the following: "According to statistics, due to household chores, today, 84,000 women in Moldova are inactive on the labor market, while 100,000 jobs in the country are vacant. I think this paints a worrying picture. For this reason, we have tried to adopt laws that reconcile family and professional life, as it is important to directly address the causes of gender inequality in the labour market. One of the main issues we have worked on is the possibility of sharing childcare leave between mothers and fathers. We have also regulated flexible working hours in the Labor Code. We also approved the normative framework for the creation of alternative care services for children under 3 years old."

Even though women make up more than half of Moldova's population, they remain a minority in the business community. Currently, only around 33.9% of businesses are owned or managed by women, an increase of just 6.4% compared to 2009. This situation is influenced by various barriers, such as limited access to start-up capital, insufficient skills and self-confidence, and family responsibilities that limit women's willingness to develop larger businesses.

"We are very happy about the recent progress in childcare and equal pay, especially as Moldova remains significantly affected by the economic and security crisis. The crisis affects women and men differently, in terms of employment, income and distribution of parental responsibilities - further reducing women's well-being and safety. Implementation challenges still persist, including in areas related to women's economic empowerment", said H.E. Katarina Fried, Ambassador of Sweden to Moldova.

The Country Representative, UN Women Moldova Dominika Stojanoska said "Women make enormous contributions to Moldova's economy, either in business, as entrepreneurs or employees, or through unpaid care work. The economic benefits of supporting women's economic empowerment in Moldova are valuable and only the joint effort of all relevant partners - national institutions, business associations, private sector, development partners and academia could lead to major results in improving the status of women both in the family and in the community."

Victoria Sobol, founder and manager of Stupina Codri, a bee keeping business in Bravicea, Călărași talked about her business development and the support from UN Women: "When we started we had 5 bee families, at the moment we have about 130 families. With small steps we started to go to fairs, events, and more people came to meet us and supported us at fairs, they were interested in the life and activity of bees, we realised that this was a new direction that we would like to develop besides beekeeping. I applied to ODA projects, first "Start for young people", then "Women in Business", then other and other new programmes. I also obtained a voucher for website development. A great support for us was also the help from UN Women. Later we developed and purchased more equipment. We keep going and moving forward, our team is developing beautifully at home."

In the context of the existing crises in the region, including economic, energy and war in Ukraine, it is extremely important that women, including those from under-represented groups, receive the necessary support to strengthen their resilience, make efficient use of resources, generate decent jobs and increase productivity and competitiveness.

The event was a valuable opportunity to identify solutions to these challenges and to promote the need for integrated support for women entrepreneurs. Through grants to support investment and associated business development services, such as mentoring and training sessions, women entrepreneurs receive essential support in developing their businesses.