Women’s entrepreneurship focus of international conference co-organized by OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan in Tashkent

Developing women’s entrepreneurship through innovation and investment was the focus of an international conference organized by the Association of Business Women of Uzbekistan, Tadbirkor Ayol, with support from the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan and several other domestic and international organizations on 23 November 2018 in Tashkent.

Held on the occasion of the internationally recognized Women’s Entrepreneurship Day and serving as the culminating event of Women’s Entrepreneurship Week, the conference gathered over 150 participants from across the OSCE region, the overwhelming majority of whom were female.

The aim of the conference was to share experiences in promoting women entrepreneurship in different countries and sectors, and the attendees reflected this by including representatives from both the public and private sector as well as the international and diplomatic community.

During the event, participants discussed such topics as the role of women’s entrepreneurship in sustainable development, the role of women in public-private partnerships and the development of women’s business associations in different OSCE countries including Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Belarus. A strong emphasis was placed on the need for co-operation between women in order to promote women’s entrepreneurship; this was stressed by every female speaker (75% of the speakers).

The Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan has been active in the field of women’s entrepreneurship since 2007 and is currently supporting the female business community through the extra-budgetary project Support to Managerial Capacity Building of Female Managers, funded by Germany and the Netherlands.