BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 17. Azerbaijani women entrepreneurs are interested in doing business in liberated areas, the Chairman of the Board of Azerbaijan’s Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA) Orkhan Mammadov said during the SHE Congress conference in Baku, Trend reports.
According to Mammadov, about 80 applications to the agency were received from women in order to build a business in the sectors of trade, industry, agriculture, tourism, education and others.
"Over the past few years, the number of women entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan has increased. The country has a policy to develop women's entrepreneurship. In 2018, the proportion of women among individual entrepreneurs was about 19 percent, and in April 2023, this figure already exceeded 22 percent,” he noted.
“Moreover, there are also a sufficient number of women among the founders and heads of legal entities and enterprises, and 49 percent of the economically active population of our country are women," the official said.
Mammadov also noted that women's awareness of the benefits and opportunities of doing business should be improved.
"We are carrying out relevant work to train and retrain women. Today, we have already trained about 1,000 women in the business sector, nine women entrepreneurs have been given a grant, and 10 have been provided with start-up certificates that exempt their activities from taxes and duties,” he said, adding that the SMBDA provides support to women entrepreneurs in entering local and foreign markets.
SHE Congress is the international women's leadership event that is designed to bring role models such as top female executives and female business owners as well as top private and public sector representatives advocating for women empowerment to share their knowledge, skills, and energy with female junior professionals, startups and even graduate in such areas as business & entrepreneurship, career development, lifestyle, family and motherhood, and well-being.
SHE Congress hosts the most prominent international and local speakers with outstanding stories and career paths. Established in 2017, SHE Congress has become the most remarkable women's leadership event not only in the region but internationally.