Conference promotes women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment in Moldova

Date: Tuesday, 18 October 2022

Woman entrepreneur sells her products at the Women’s Entrepreneur Expo Satellite event in Chisinau. Photo: Daikiri studio, Life at Crunchyroll.

100 women entrepreneurs from across Moldova showcased and sold their products at the Women’s Entrepreneurship Expo 2022 satellite event held in Chisinau on 24 and 25 September in the lead up to the Regional Women’s Entrepreneurship Expo to be held virtually on 16 – 17 November.

Out of the 100 participants, ten women entrepreneurs benefitted from voucher-type financial support earmarked for entrepreneurial development. The women will use the financial aid to develop their businesses and increase their visibility on the market, specifically by developing design, copywriting and social media services; accessing their funding and preparing their file to access support programmes; setting up product photo shoots; creating a web page; procuring production equipment; and subcontracting other services that will have a direct impact on developing their business.

One of the participants in the exhibition and a beneficiary of the Voucher Support programme, Natalia Efros, co-founder of AlterEgo Winery, says: "The platform created and offered by UN Women is more than a fleeting opportunity; it certifies that the efforts of women entrepreneurs are being validated and heard. Moreover, this is an important signal for other women entrepreneurs who need a boost of confidence that they can succeed."

"Expanding support for local women producers is imperative and currently a priority of UN Women, as the pandemic and economic crisis have aggravated gender inequalities, exposing vulnerabilities in social, political and economic systems that have affected women to a greater extent, especially women entrepreneurs. UN Women will continue to support women entrepreneurship through needs-tailored capacity development programmes," said Alia El-Yassir, UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.

The exhibition was organized within the framework of the national conference "Promoting gender equality in the workplace, on the market and in the community" hosted by UN Women Moldova in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, the European Bank for Reconstruction (EBRD), the Economic Council and signatory companies of the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), with the financial support of Sweden.

Seventeen companies from Moldova signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles at the national conference "Promoting gender equality in the workplace, on the market and in the community.” Photo: Daikiri studio, Life at Crunchyroll.

The national conference was attended by 17 companies that signed the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) as well as other companies that support women's empowerment in both the workplace and community. It also brought together government institutions, international organisations and business associations that promote women's economic empowerment in Moldova and internationally.

Launched in 2021, the Women’s Entrepreneurship EXPO is a unique partnership platform to promote women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem building in the Europe and Central Asia region. EXPO provides an interactive space for women entrepreneurs, investors and private sector representatives for networking and collaboration, peer learning, ideas generation, capacity building and business development. EXPO 2022 is organized by UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Yıldız Holding as part of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator supported by Mary Kay. Learn more and register.