ŽIG Women's business for gender equality, economic empowerment of women and female entrepreneurship

The promotion of gender equality, the economic empowerment of women and the improvement of the business environment in Montenegro will be simpler from today, because companies managed and owned by women will also be recognized by the Women's Business TRADEMARK, it was announced at the press conference where this project was presented. .

"A business environment with stimulating conditions for female entrepreneurship and gender equality is an integral part of the commitment of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to promote sustainable and inclusive market economies. EBRD actively pursues gender and economic inclusion through political dialogue, dedicated credit support and advisory services. ŽIG Women's Business is a cornerstone for the successful promotion of a balanced business environment in Montenegro", said the head of the EBRD office in Montenegro, Remon Zakaria.

The Ambassador of Great Britain in Montenegro, Don McCann, hopes that the project will ensure the creation of preconditions for a favorable business environment in Montenegro and equal opportunities for all members of society, CG NEWS Agency.

"In order for there to be equal opportunities and for women to be encouraged to start their own business, they must be financially independent, because I believe that it is particularly difficult and challenging for women to achieve equality with men in the economy," said McCann.

As CG NEWS writes, the head of the Secretariat of the Competitiveness Council (SCC), Marija Šuković, said that in the previous period, the SCC cooperated intensively with representatives of the public and private sectors, and that with special analyzes of stratistic data, they came to the conclusion that in recent years it has been continuously increasing the number of support and incentive programs for the development of female entrepreneurship "which is of course information that makes us very happy, but that the effects in the economy could be better, not to say that they are not something to be happy about. Preliminary analyzes have established that the number of women's businesses is growing mainly on paper, i.e. in CRPS bases, that incentives and support programs do not necessarily "target" the rights of companies that are owned or managed by women, because the practice of ownership only formally transfers it to the woman in order to realize the right to a certain incentive."

"There are two key goals of the ŽIG Women's Business project: proper targeting, i.e. recognition of "women's businesses" whose main characteristic is that women have not only a formal and legal ownership function, but also an essential, management function, and easier access to financial and non-financial incentives for women entrepreneurs, where state and private institutions will be provided with a system for recognizing women's businesses when allocation of both financial and non-financial support intended for women", said Šuković.

She concluded that one of the tools from the Project is the creation of a public register of companies that meet the criteria from the international document and which have been awarded the ŽIG.

"We truly believe that through the initiatives we implement, such as Top Women Business Montenegro, we have launched an avalanche of good energy, so we see ŽIG Women's Business as another strong flywheel of female entrepreneurship," said Ljiljana Burzan-Nikolić, director of the BI Communication agency, which is a partner of the project.

According to her, the basis for obtaining the WOMEN'S BUSINESS MARK is the fulfillment of the criteria defined by the international document MEST IWA 34, the key parts of which refer to the questions of whether the company is managed by women, whether the company is owned by women, whether women have full control over the company and whether whether a "female" company is independent", states CG NEWS.

"The plan is also to organize info-sessions on the subject of conditions and procedures for obtaining the Women's Business TRADEMARK, which will be open to all interested entrepreneurs. Info-sessions will be organized in the central, southern and northern regions of Montenegro", concluded Burzan-Nikolić.