Women entrepreneurs connect, create, and accelerate their businesses in Serbia

Over 160 women entrepreneurs from across Serbia and neighbouring countries gathered in Belgrade on 6-7 October to attend the Summit “Women’s Entrepreneurship – Connect to Create and Accelerate Your Business.”

Organized by UN Women Serbia in partnership with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Association of Business Women, the Government of Serbia, the European Union Delegation to Serbia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Summit aimed at enhancing dialogue and exchange of best practices on women’s entrepreneurship and encouraging cooperation and networking between women entrepreneurs in Serbia.

The event was hosted as a satellite event of the Regional Women’s Entrepreneurship EXPO 2022 to be held virtually on 16-17 November. It included specialized panels on business transformation, innovation, funding sources for women entrepreneurs, Business to Business (B2B) meetings between women entrepreneurs and companies, and a workshop for women entrepreneurs on motivating employees and associates.

Opening the event, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister, Zorana Mihajlovic, said: “This is a very important topic, not only for gender equality, but it is also an important topic for the economic development of the entire country. The vision for all of us is that in the future we will no longer talk about women or men’s entrepreneurship, but rather about entrepreneurship, because we will have equal conditions for both men and women when they do business."

"We cannot afford to leave women entrepreneurs behind. In doing so we leave future generations behind as well. The ripple effect of women's success contributes directly to their local economy and touches lives across their community," said Alia El-Yassir, UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.

In addition to women entrepreneurs from Serbia selected to participate in EXPO 2022, women entrepreneurs from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro, members of the thematic group on women’s entrepreneurship under the European Enterprise Network project, were also invited to participate in the event.

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 Inc.