Association of Business Women in Serbia
The current state of play in Serbia/Western Balkans
on women's participation in business/politics
32nd meeting of the
Western Balkans Follow-up Committee
Brussels, 6 of May 2014
www.poslovnezene.org.rs
The current state of play in Serbia/Western Balkans
on women's participation in business/politics
Business
 Among total number of active (private) businesses and shops,
women’s entrepreneurship1) accounts for only 26%
 Gender differences in the characteristics of entrepreneurship:
- trade 36.4% women and 28.4% men
- “other services” sectors - 44% of women and 41.6% of men
 Started to engage in entrepreneurship later than men,
 Simpler legal forms - shops rather than companies
 47% of the shops and companies started and run by women have
closed down, compared to 38% of the companies opened and run
by men.
 Women are especially exposed to the risk of failure in the early
business phase - within the first 42 months of operation according to
GEM methodology
1) Definition of women entrepreneur: all women who own (any share of) a company and at the same time,
perform a lead managerial role in the company
2) Baseline Study on Women's Entrepreneurship in Serbia, which was done by SeConS, Group for Development
Initiative, and the Gender Impact Analysis of Selected Support Measures for Entrepreneurship in Serbia,
conducted by the Foundation for the Advancement of Economics (FREN),
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The current state of play in Serbia/Western Balkans
on women's participation in business/politics
Politics
After election
 National Parliament – 83/250 women members (33.3%)
 Women is the Speaker of National Parliament
 Government:
- 2 Deputy Prime Ministers are women
- only 4 women ministers among 18
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The current state of play in Serbia/Western Balkans
on women's participation in business/politics
Politics
Women’s Parliamentary Network was establish for the first time two years ago

It is organized as informal group represented by the “Collegium”, consisting of 15
coordinators, presided by one of the coordinators over the period of three months
MAIN GOALS OF THE WOMEN’S PARLIAMENTARY NETWORK IN SERBIA ARE:

Adopting new laws and politics as well as supervision of implementation of existing laws,
especially in following areas:
-Women’s and family health
-Suppression of violence against women and children as well as of domestic violence
-Economic empowerment of women
-Education of women and promotion of women’s knowledge
ACHIEVED RESULTS OF THE SERBIAN WOMEN’S PARLIAMENTARY NETWORK:

Criminal Law was amended thus preventing obsolescence of sexual criminal offences
against children. Serbia became second European country, after UK to do this

More then 40 women’s councillors’ networks were formed within municipalities in Serbia
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Association of Business Women in Serbia
The role of ABW organisation in fighting for
legislation/mentality changes
32nd meeting of the
Western Balkans Follow-up Committee
Brussels, 6 of May 2014
www.poslovnezene.org.rs
The role of ABW organisation in fighting for
legislation/mentality changes
ABW ID
 ABW in Serbia was founded in 1998 as a not–for-profit, non-political, nongovernmental organization
 ABW Serbia boasts nearly 250 members. The companies run by our
members are employing over 3.000 people mostly in the processing
industry, services and trade. 32% of the companies have more than 20
employees.
 Up to now a strong network of 9 local partners has been developed –
local associations of business women with nearly 900 members. For linking
all these women ABW Serbia received the “Special Mention Award 2013”
granted by the European Commission.
 120 successfully realized projects financed by (Delegation of the
European Union, Serbian Ministry of Finance, GIZ, US Embassy in Serbia,
EBRD/BAS etc.)
 Since 2007 nearly 300 women entrepreneurs were promoted and 68 have
been granted with the annual Success Flower Award, which is involved in
the official agenda of SME week , and acknowledged by EU who is
celebrating SME week in more than 40 countries.
 WE COMUNICATE (www.poslovnezene.org.rs), YouTube (30.000 views), FB,
LinkedIn
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The role of ABW organisation in fighting for
legislation/mentality changes
Mission
Association of Business Women in Serbia strives for:

Continuous improvement of conditions for private
businesses in the local communities in Serbia

Creation of equal opportunities for those companies
which are run by women

Promotion of local, regional and international links
among businesswomen and other relevant business
organizations
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The role of ABW organisation in fighting for
legislation/mentality changes
Objestives
 Increase the number of women start-ups
 Raise awareness and reinforce the visibility of women
business owners
 Encourage existing women-owned companies to
expand their businesses
 Provide a forum where women entrepreneurs can
exchange ideas and increase their business contacts
 Influence the development of public
policies which are favorable for SMEs
 Strengthen local, regional, and international ties
among women entrepreneurs through the exchange
of experiences and ideas
 Promote social responsibility and a high standard of
ethics in business
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The role of ABW organisation in fighting for
legislation/mentality changes
Activities
 Training for women entrepreneurs, owners of currently
active businesses
 Training for women would-be entrepreneurs/start-ups
 Mentoring programs
 Monthly networking meetings
 Regional and international networking (Conferences,
B2B, Business Speed Datings etc.)
 Advocacy with policy makers and cooperation
with state institutions on SME issues
 Annual awards for best women entrepreneurs
(Success Flower Awards)
 Research and publications
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The role of ABW organisation in fighting for
legislation/mentality changes
Advocacy
Advocacy Committee - 5 priorities
1. Inclusion of women in the supply chain
2. Amendments to the Law on Privatization: For the subjects of
privatization (defined under art. 3 of the Law on Privatization)
which have unsettled obligations towards the SMEs, the state
(Central Registry of Securities) issues a payment instrument
which SME can use to settle their obligations towards the
state (taxes, contributions, …)
3. Integrating of private healthcare into the healthcare system
of Serbia,
4. Unique methodology of collecting local communal taxes
(specifically – tax on company name display) on the territory
of the Republic of Serbia
5. ABW joins the campaign "Rights for moms" initiated by three
CSO with the goal of transferring the obligation to
compensate women on maternity leave from the employer
to the state
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The role of ABW organisation in fighting for
legislation/mentality changes
Advocacy
Project: Women Entrepreneurs contribute to development
of economic policy in new political context:
 Business women in Serbia will be given the opportunity
to present their priorities, which need to be worked on
and need to be supported by the Parliament
 Conclusions from panel discussions to be organized in
all Boards, will be included in the Platform for support
Women’s entrepreneurship by the Parliament
www.poslovnezene.org.rs
The role of ABW organisation in fighting for
legislation/mentality changes
Success Flower Awards
The Association of Business Women in Serbia established
in 2007 the Success Flower Awards for the best women
entrepreneurs
The aim of these awards is to make women’s
achievements in Serbian economic development more
visible as well as to give women entrepreneurship the
greatest promotion as possible
 These annual awards have become a “brand”, as they
have gained considerable media attention
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The role of ABW organisation in fighting for
legislation/mentality changes
Success Flower Awards
The two main categories:
“Most European Company”
“Best Model for Employing Women”
Additional categories:
“Best Model for Self-employment”, Essentially for startups in business for three years or less
 “Most Innovative”, aim to promote the diversity of
businesses which are run by women in Serbia.
www.poslovnezene.org.rs
Association of Business Women in Serbia
ABW expectations on the role of EU integration
in bringing further progress in Serbia
32nd meeting of the
Western Balkans Follow-up Committee
Brussels, 6 of May 2014
www.poslovnezene.org.rs
ABW expectations on the role of EU integration
in bringing further progress in Serbia
Our expectations regarding the EU integration
process is
to get the systematic institutional support for
development of female entrepreneurship which will
be based on the regularly run gender statistics in
entrepreneurship
We expect that the EU integration will launch the
obligation of gender budgeting for our policy
makers, as the tool to map the gaps in women’s
needs.
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THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Olivera Popovic, Vice President
Association of Business Women in Serbia
Volgina 15, 11060 Belgrade, Serbia
Phone/Fax : +381 11 6776801
office@poslovnezene.org.rs
www.poslovnezene.org.rs