Women’s entrepreneurship: perspectives and opportunities

20 rural women from Kadamjai district of Batken oblast, Kara-Suu district of Osh oblast, Tyup and Aksu districts of Issyk-Kul oblast, Kemin district of Chui oblast, Toguz-Toroi and Suzak districts of Jalal-Abad oblast participated in trainings “Women’s entrepreneurship: perspectives and opportunities” and “National and international commitments of Kyrgyzstan on the economy with a focus on women’s entrepreneurship”. The trainings were held from 8 to 11 September as part of the program of the Forum of Women’s NGOs of Kyrgyzstan “Women in the Economy” for rural women activists who want to start their own business.

The purpose of the training “Women’s entrepreneurship: prospects and opportunities” was to inspire and unlock the potential of rural women who want to become businesswomen, as well as to enable them to see many opportunities in business, focusing not only on their own development, but also on social entrepreneurship, i.e. on creating a business that can bring benefit and good to the local community and other rural women.

Within the framework of the training, several objectives were set:

Networking: to facilitate networking and build a network of professional connections that can be useful for future business.
Business planning and development support: to provide participants with resources and advice on developing business plans.
Motivation and inspiration: to support and inspire participants to achieve their goals and strive for entrepreneurial success.

The training included elements of interactive sessions, with a brief theoretical part, role-playing, discussions, and video viewing. An important part of the training were guest speakers who shared their experience and ideas on starting and running a business. All guest speakers with their speeches supported the main idea of the training, which focused on uniting rural women entrepreneurs in associations to promote their ideas at different levels, especially in decision making at the local level, search for financial resources.

According to the participants of the training, visits to the enterprises that women have established gave them a strong motivation to create their own businesses and improve the welfare of not only their families but also vulnerable groups, including women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

The training “National and international commitments of the Kyrgyz Republic on the economy with a focus on women’s entrepreneurship” was devoted to the issues of the Kyrgyz Republic’s commitments in the field of economy at different levels. Training participants discussed opportunities for rural women in the development of women’s entrepreneurship, barriers and motivators of women’s empowerment

The participants received information on mechanisms of realization of women’s economic rights and opportunities at the local level.

And the final point of the training was the study of the partnership platform to promote the creation of an ecosystem of women’s entrepreneurship in the region of Europe and Central Asia EXPO – 2023.

According to the participants of the trainings, they received a variety of knowledge and skills to start their own business, to unite in associations for better development of their ideas and to bring social benefit.