15 Jun Kick OFF
Promotion of the National Platform for Women Entrepreneurship
The National Platform for Women Entrepreneurship was launched on May 21 at the Hilton Hotel, with a conference attended by the platform’s founders, ministers, senior EU officials, diplomats and representatives of the NGO sector and the business community. The participants agreed that in order to create real policies that will contribute to the promotion of women’s entrepreneurship in the country, it is necessary to unite all the stakeholders through the National Platform for Women Entrepreneurship.
“Through the National Platform for Women Entrepreneurship, we want to unite all active actors in this field and create a larger critical mass that will show the need for a more serious approach in creating opportunities for growth and development of women entrepreneurship in our country.” The main goal of the project is to strengthen the capacities of civil society organizations to create public policies and advocacy in the field of women entrepreneurship. “Investing in women will increase gender equality in society and promote inclusive and sustainable development,” said Valentina Disoska, president of the National Platform for Women Entrepreneurship and the Association of Business Women.
“It is worrying that while a growing number of countries in Europe are introducing legally guaranteed participation of women in high and decisive positions, we have a large negative trend in this field. The data show that the representation of women in senior corporate positions has decreased from 2 to 1%. “In order to overcome this situation, and to achieve economic empowerment of women, new policies are needed, which will guarantee the deserved positions of women, the evaluation of their qualities, qualifications, ability and prevention of discrimination in professional advancement,” said Danela Arsovska, President of the Macedonian Chambers of Commerce.
“For many rural women, developing women entrepreneurship means ending poverty, achieving food security, promoting sustainable agriculture and achieving gender equality in rural areas. That is why it is very important to involve women in the decision-making processes of the agricultural holding and to create opportunities for them to develop business activities. “Women from rural areas are involved in informal activities and have very few employment opportunities, and still only 5% of the countries have property rights,” said Vaska Mojsovska, president of the National Federation of Farmers, noting that the National Platform for Women Entrepreneurship is a big step towards women’s economic empowerment.
“With the creation and implementation of the National Platform for Women Entrepreneurship, we want to apply ours, and the experience of all our collaborators, in the process of developing and creating policies and reforms, to facilitate structural dialogue, networking and stakeholder consultation.” to improve the capacities of civil society organizations that support women entrepreneurship as well as to increase the visibility for women entrepreneurs as drivers of changes in economic policy, said Emilija Andonova, project manager at the Foundation for Management and Industrial Research – MIR.
At the promotional event, a Declaration for Support of Women Entrepreneurship was signed.
