An EBRD-funded study aimed at encouraging female entrepreneurship by North Macedoniaentitled “Roadmap for a gender-responsive investment climate”, was launched today in Skopje.
The launch event was opened by the Minister of Economy of North Macedonia, Kreshnik Bekteshi. Participants included the EBRD, the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedoniapolicy makers, business representatives and civil society.
The roadmap, drawn up by Marija Risteska under the aegis of the Western Balkan Businesswomen (WiB) program, will inform policy makers and other stakeholders on ways to increase female entrepreneurship. In particular, he recommends:
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integrating gender into investment policy – investment policies should include gender objectives and criteria, as well as direct support to sectors in which women-led or owned businesses operate. -
develop support services for businesses owned and managed by women – this includes start-up services such as incubators and accelerators that integrate a gender perspective into their operations or provide specific services to businesses led or owned by women. -
improve access to finance and markets for businesses led or owned by women – this could include measures such as digitalisation, gender-sensitive taxation, including gender criteria in grant, grant and loan schemes, as well as opening a window for companies run or owned by women in the country’s new Guarantee Fund, which supports the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises. large enterprises (SMEs) and traders.
Aneta Krstevska, Chief Economist at the National Bank of the Republic of North Macedonia, commented: “The new roadmap builds on the work done previously by the National Bank and other financial regulators when preparing the first national strategy for financial education and inclusion 2021-2025. , which detected gender and other gaps in financial education and inclusion, and identified action points. North Macedonia is committed to improving female entrepreneurship opportunities with our partners.
These comments were echoed by Andi Aranitasi, Head of the EBRD in North Macedonia: “The roadmap shows how the EBRD’s approach to policy dialogue is geared towards improving the entrepreneurial ecosystem for women. business. More specifically, the EBRD will seek to reduce the financial gender gap by working with partner financial institutions to help them improve the collection, analysis and awareness of gender-disaggregated data, as well as build their capacity to breaking gender stereotypes in lending.
The Roadmap points out that, despite the country’s well-developed political and legal framework, women are still underrepresented among business leaders in North Macedonia, as they own only a third of the country’s businesses. . Women-led enterprises are also systematically smaller and less represented in sectors with higher growth potential, and are often trapped in the small and micro enterprise segment, accounting for only a small fraction of certain economic activities, such as trade and services.
Support for business women
The EBRD has a long history of helping women access entrepreneurial opportunities, including through its Women in Business Program (WiB). The programme, active in 24 economies, has so far provided €900 million of financing and business advice to more than 100,000 women-led SMEs and 58 partner financial institutions.
Since the launch of the WiB program in the Western Balkans in 2014 – the first program of its kind in the region – the EBRD has provided more than €60 million to its partner financial institutions to on-lend to SMEs led by women. This, combined with the wide range of advisory, training, mentoring and networking activities offered by the EBRD, has helped over 7,500 women entrepreneurs grow and grow their businesses. In the Western Balkans, 12 banks and financial institutions have so far joined the programme.
In North Macedonia, the WiB program is available through NLB Banka and Ohridska Banka. Counseling services under the program are supported by donor funds from Sweden And Luxemburg.
