The Cabinet endorsed the pilot-project “Women in business” whose elaboration is envisioned in the Association Agreement with the EU. The document encourages the economic independence of women and contributes to the development of their entrepreneurial skills, IPN reports.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the women represent 51.8% of Moldova’s population. The employment rate among women is 36.5%. On the other hand, about 75% of the working women have the status of employee. The number of businesswomen is lower than of businessmen, both in rural areas and in urban ones. Of the 350,000 businesspersons, 60.3% are men. This shows that women entrepreneurship is an underused resource.

The pilot-project “Women in business” has three components: support for starting businesses; support for newly created businesses, and support for developing companies. During the 36-month program, women entrepreneurship modules will be promoted on a large scale.

The program was worked out by the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Moldova. Its budget is over 51.5 million lei. The costs are covered by the Technical Assistance Project for Implementing the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.