BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 23. Visa will keep supporting women entrepreneurs in Azerbaijan, senior director, regional manager of Visa in the country Nurlan Hajiyev told Trend.
According to him, in the near future, the company plans to implement a new project in Azerbaijan as part of the She's Next Empowered by Visa global initiative to support women entrepreneurs.
"The initiative hit the ground running in Azerbaijan in 2021 and struck a chord with Azerbaijani women right off the bat. In the same year, the first wave of the program was implemented. Over 1,000 Azerbaijani women attended educational webinars on various topics useful for running a business. In 2022, we expanded the initiative by holding the Visa Elevator Pitch Day contest.
More than 600 female entrepreneurs and women planning to start their own businesses applied to participate. The contest finals were very touching, and the emotions were hard to describe: all participants presented well-developed, important, and inspiring projects.
Cash awards were given to two contest winners so that they could grow their enterprises. In the near future, we plan to launch the third wave of the She's Next Empowered by Visa initiative in Azerbaijan," Hajiyev said.
The regional manager of Visa in Azerbaijan also shared other opportunities for entrepreneurs that the company provides.
"Today, She's Next digital community platform from Visa is available to women entrepreneurs from the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. This is an excellent platform that unites entrepreneurs and women leaders and provides them with tools for networking, sharing experiences, and expanding their businesses internationally," he added.
According to the senior director and regional manager of Visa, the platform has over 1,000 active users today.
To note, Visa (NYSE: V) is a global leader in the digital payments industry. Visa processes payment transactions between consumers, businesses, and financial and government institutions in more than 200 countries and territories. Visa's mission is to unite the world through an innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payment network to promote consumer well-being and business and economic prosperity.