Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 21
By Sara Israfilbayova – Trend:
Development of women’s entrepreneurship is one of the priority issues facing Azerbaijan’s Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), Orkhan Mammadov, chairman of the Agency’s Board, said at the event “Supporting Women’s Entrepreneurship in Accessing Preferential Financial Resources” held in Baku, Trend reports Jan. 21.
He noted that the growing economic motivation of women in Azerbaijan and their wide representation in the SME sector are important for ensuring socio-economic development, including employment.
He added that the Agency plans to develop incentive mechanisms for the development of the women’s entrepreneurship.
“We are considering issues aimed at introducing incentive mechanisms for the development of women’s entrepreneurship, and this will greatly expand opportunities for women’s economic initiatives in Azerbaijan,” he said. “During the development of mechanisms, the problem of women’s employment in rural areas will be in the spotlight. Further promising areas of the employment of women in rural areas will be defined, as well as the appropriate measures will be taken.”
He noted that various measures will be taken to ensure women’s access to information relating to entrepreneurship in order to provide information support to women entrepreneurs.
“We are focused on creating organizational models to support the development of women’s entrepreneurship,” he added. “In this regard, we will support the initiative of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Association in Azerbaijan to create a business incubator for this purpose.”
He noted that the creation and development of incubators will be important for supporting women’s entrepreneurship, creating new opportunities for business and employment, additional opportunities for women to invest in entrepreneurship.
Further, Mammadov emphasized that simplifying access to financial resources for SMEs is an important aspect of the agency’s activities, adding that the main part of the appeals received by 11 offices of “Friends of SMEs” that are already operating, involves financing.
“The agency is working on a number of important projects,” he said. “I would like to highlight the creation of an online platform for access to finances. This platform will provide an opportunity for online communication between financial institutions and entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to present their projects to all interested parties online, and this will also minimize the loss of time.”
He added that the Agency pays special attention to cooperation with entrepreneurs on the basis of effective cooperation platforms created by public associations:
“Expressing my satisfaction with the cooperation with the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Azerbaijan represented in the Public Council created by the Agency, I am convinced that this cooperation will expand in the future,” Mammadov said.
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