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Tajik, Afghan businesswomen participate in forum
A conference at the end of March brought together female entrepreneurs and sparked new meetings and projects.
By Jamila Sujud
2014-04-08
DUSHANBE – More than 200 Central Asian and Afghan female entrepreneurs took part in a March 27-28 symposium in Dushanbe dedicated to female entrepreneurship.
Baya Sharkaeva (centre), a consultant for the Dutch-based Ecorys consultancy, addresses conferees at the Tajik and Afghan businesswomen's forum in Dushanbe March 28. Businesswomen from several countries in the region discussed plans for collaboration. [Jamila Sujud]
Baya Sharkaeva (centre), a consultant for the Dutch-based Ecorys consultancy, addresses conferees at the Tajik and Afghan businesswomen's forum in Dushanbe March 28. Businesswomen from several countries in the region discussed plans for collaboration. [Jamila Sujud]
The Symposium of Women Entrepreneurs of Central Asia and Afghanistan brought together entrepreneurs, lawmakers, and staffers from development agencies and from international and local financial institutions, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in a statement.
Organisers included the National Association of Businesswomen of Tajikistan (NABWT), the Tajik government and the EBRD.
During the symposium, female entrepreneurs from Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan discussed issues such as attracting investment from international agencies in developing entrepreneurship in the region's countries.
"Such meetings are... essential, because there's always the opportunity to share something," one of the event's participants, Aziza Yuldasheva, director of the Kyrgyz Businesswomen's Club, said.
"It's more profitable for residents of the Fergana Valley to work with their neighbours [across the border] than within their own country," she said. "They're geographically separated [from their compatriots] by high passes that cost big money to cross, but then, trade across the border is very active and beneficial for each party."
Business is always about connections, and women in the region must forge such ties, Yuldasheva said.
"Who in other regions or countries is going to care about us?" she asked. "We need to work at and conquer our own markets and not give them up to others. ... These events are always useful."
Afghans hope for co-operation, results
Afghan Federation of Female Entrepreneurs Director Kamila Sidiqi is striving to establish close co-operation with the Tajik Association of Female Entrepreneurs.
"If we Afghan women hadn't come to the symposium, we wouldn't have met so many women who run businesses in the region," Sidiqi said.
"The problem we have is that we haven't been able to enter the global market," Morvarid Nurzay, chairwoman of the Women's Business Technical Committee, in Herat, Afghanistan, said.
By participating in events like this symposium, women from the region can find new partners and enter the regional market, a step to solving the problem, Nurzay said.
"These kinds of events undoubtedly help," said Jamilya Imankulova, founding partner of El Group Consulting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. "We're getting together, talking with each other, and as such we don't want our sons to fight, but quite the opposite, to live peacefully."
During the symposium, attendees reached many agreements, including one on the formation of the Central Asian Association of Female Entrepreneurs, which Afghanistan is part of.
Competing for prizes
Officials at the conference announced the winners of a competition for the best business plan among Tajik female entrepreneurs. Of the 238 women who entered the contest, 14 rural entrants won the chance to receive subsidised loans from the micro-lender Imon International, while another three rural entrants received access to preferential leasing of farm equipment from the Imon micro-credit foundation, the owner of Imon International.
"The active participation of young women in this competition is a testament to their desires and aspirations to help develop the Tajik economy," said Gulbakhor Makhkamova, general director of NABWT, one of the contest's sponsors.
One of the competition's winners was 25-year-old Dushanbe resident Parastu Aydarshoyeva, who submitted a project to establish a studio for TV commercials and public service announcements.
"Although I was trained as a journalist, I work in marketing now," said Aydarshoyeva, who attended the symposium to broaden her professional knowledge after her career change. "Thanks to these training sessions, I came to master marketing, which is very timely and useful for me."
A conference at the end of March brought together female entrepreneurs and sparked new meetings and projects.
By Jamila Sujud
2014-04-08
DUSHANBE – More than 200 Central Asian and Afghan female entrepreneurs took part in a March 27-28 symposium in Dushanbe dedicated to female entrepreneurship.
Baya Sharkaeva (centre), a consultant for the Dutch-based Ecorys consultancy, addresses conferees at the Tajik and Afghan businesswomen's forum in Dushanbe March 28. Businesswomen from several countries in the region discussed plans for collaboration. [Jamila Sujud]
Baya Sharkaeva (centre), a consultant for the Dutch-based Ecorys consultancy, addresses conferees at the Tajik and Afghan businesswomen's forum in Dushanbe March 28. Businesswomen from several countries in the region discussed plans for collaboration. [Jamila Sujud]
The Symposium of Women Entrepreneurs of Central Asia and Afghanistan brought together entrepreneurs, lawmakers, and staffers from development agencies and from international and local financial institutions, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in a statement.
Organisers included the National Association of Businesswomen of Tajikistan (NABWT), the Tajik government and the EBRD.
During the symposium, female entrepreneurs from Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan discussed issues such as attracting investment from international agencies in developing entrepreneurship in the region's countries.
"Such meetings are... essential, because there's always the opportunity to share something," one of the event's participants, Aziza Yuldasheva, director of the Kyrgyz Businesswomen's Club, said.
"It's more profitable for residents of the Fergana Valley to work with their neighbours [across the border] than within their own country," she said. "They're geographically separated [from their compatriots] by high passes that cost big money to cross, but then, trade across the border is very active and beneficial for each party."
Business is always about connections, and women in the region must forge such ties, Yuldasheva said.
"Who in other regions or countries is going to care about us?" she asked. "We need to work at and conquer our own markets and not give them up to others. ... These events are always useful."
Afghans hope for co-operation, results
Afghan Federation of Female Entrepreneurs Director Kamila Sidiqi is striving to establish close co-operation with the Tajik Association of Female Entrepreneurs.
"If we Afghan women hadn't come to the symposium, we wouldn't have met so many women who run businesses in the region," Sidiqi said.
"The problem we have is that we haven't been able to enter the global market," Morvarid Nurzay, chairwoman of the Women's Business Technical Committee, in Herat, Afghanistan, said.
By participating in events like this symposium, women from the region can find new partners and enter the regional market, a step to solving the problem, Nurzay said.
"These kinds of events undoubtedly help," said Jamilya Imankulova, founding partner of El Group Consulting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. "We're getting together, talking with each other, and as such we don't want our sons to fight, but quite the opposite, to live peacefully."
During the symposium, attendees reached many agreements, including one on the formation of the Central Asian Association of Female Entrepreneurs, which Afghanistan is part of.
Competing for prizes
Officials at the conference announced the winners of a competition for the best business plan among Tajik female entrepreneurs. Of the 238 women who entered the contest, 14 rural entrants won the chance to receive subsidised loans from the micro-lender Imon International, while another three rural entrants received access to preferential leasing of farm equipment from the Imon micro-credit foundation, the owner of Imon International.
"The active participation of young women in this competition is a testament to their desires and aspirations to help develop the Tajik economy," said Gulbakhor Makhkamova, general director of NABWT, one of the contest's sponsors.
One of the competition's winners was 25-year-old Dushanbe resident Parastu Aydarshoyeva, who submitted a project to establish a studio for TV commercials and public service announcements.
"Although I was trained as a journalist, I work in marketing now," said Aydarshoyeva, who attended the symposium to broaden her professional knowledge after her career change. "Thanks to these training sessions, I came to master marketing, which is very timely and useful for me."
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