Share of women entrepreneurs in Serbian economy small

BELGRADE - Female entrepreneurship is one of the great potentials for developing micro-, small and medium enterprises and a potential source of new employment, said the participants of the first Forum on Female Entrepreneurship in Belgrade on Monday.

However, women entrepreneurs account for just 26 percent of the total active private enterprises in Serbia, they said.

Providing employment to women is a priority for the Serbian government, because as many as 60 percent of them are unemployed, said Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic, who also heads a coordination body for gender equality. "It is a tragedy of our society, and the government's goal is to create an environment to change that," Mihajlovic said at the first conference of the Forum for Development of Female Entrepreneurship in Serbia, held at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia.

Independent women entrepreneurs make up just 15 percent of the total employed population in Serbia, with male entrepreneurs accounting for 38 percent and the figures illustrate that in our country there still are differences between genders, she said.

The government's objective is to create the environment and the conditions for women to become involved in business and be represented as independent entrepreneurs, Mihajlovic noted.

Photo A. Stojanovic