WB to help strengthen role of local women in entrepreneurship

The role of women in entrepreneurship will be strengthened in Azerbaijan.

Mirza Aliyev, head of the State Service for Management of Agricultural Projects and Credits under the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan said to reporters on September 19.

He says that five pilot groups of women entrepreneurs were created in five regions of the country in order to develop women's entrepreneurship within the framework of the second AZRIP project implemented with the support of the World Bank (WB).

“The purpose of the creation of these groups was the involvement of women in rural areas to business and self-employment. We already have very positive results, but we are not going to stop there and have created special groups of young people who will form special business incubators. Despite a short time of project implementation, about 100 women took part in it, and new enterprises were created on their own resources,” added Aliyev.

Head of the State Service mentioned that along with the entrepreneur's own funds, the State Service also decided to allocate special grants to them.

“We decided not to rely solely on the personal funds of entrepreneurs, and began issuing grants to them in the amount of their own funds. At present, we have already issued two grants for the sum of 5,000 manats ($2,936) to each of them. At the same time, we have resolved the issue of sustainable access of women entrepreneurs to credit. As you know, the main problem of banks and credit unions today is the provision of collateral and the presence of a surety. The combination of entrepreneurs into groups enabled them to attract credit resources together, and each woman is a surety for the rest. Thus, the risks of banks are diversified. Loans are issued for a period of up to five years,” Aliyev concluded.