The draft Women’s Entrepreneurship Support Programme was presented at the 10th jubilee meeting of Working Group 9 “Women’s Economic Empowerment and Gender Equality” of the Economic Council. According to Dumitru Pîntea, director of the Organisation for Entrepreneurial Development (ODA), the Programme to Support Women’s Entrepreneurship targets four measures: Non-reimbursable financial support for start-up women entrepreneurs; Non-reimbursable financial support for developing enterprises; Technical assistance to support developing enterprises; Promotion of the image of women entrepreneurs. 30 million lei are earmarked for the implementation of the programme. Thus, the beneficiaries of the programme will be able, for example, to access non-reimbursable financing of up to 80% of the amount of the investment project, which will not exceed 200,000 lei, and the beneficiary’s contribution must be at least 20% of the amount of the investment project. At the same time, the programme also provides for financial support for e-commerce activities of enterprises managed by women up to 50,000 MDL. Marina Morozova, member of the Moldovan Parliament, who attended the meeting, said that there is a need for such a programme that would dedicate a special segment of financial support and economic empowerment of Moldovan women. Diana Coșalîc, Deputy Director of AIPA, told the meeting that the institution she represents also supports women entrepreneurship and will continue this process in the future. Representatives of the business community supported the promotion of the programme, coming up with proposals to complement the document. Veronica Arpintin, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitisation and Chair of Working Group 9, said that all proposals from the business community are welcome and will be thoroughly examined for consideration when finalising the draft, which will be completed in the next two weeks. The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister will monitor the public consultation process and will assist the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitisation in finalising the final version of the Programme. Once the draft document is finalized, it will be submitted to the Government for approval in September 2023.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund, and the International Finance Corporation’s Investment Climate Reform Project funded by the Government of Sweden’s International Development Agency.

The Secretariat of the Economic Council to the Prime Minister is supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.