Almost half of Almaty entrepreneurs – women
Almaty hosted the second Women in Business Forum on February 20 at the Doubletree by Hilton Almaty hotel.
The event was organized by the Council of Business Women of Almaty with the support of the Almaty Chamber of Entrepreneurs. Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan JSC is the forum's general partner, and the Kazakhstani Press Club provided information and organizational support.
The Forum was initiated to create a real dialogue platform on business, women's entrepreneurship, and social issues. The forum was attended by more than 300 women entrepreneurs from the real economy, as well as expert practitioners who shared their approaches to solving women's entrepreneurship issues.
The forum was opened by Almaty Akim Bakytzhan Sagintaev, who spoke about projects in the field of women's entrepreneurship development.
Among the discussed topics of the forum were the most pressing issues of business environment development, available programs for financing women's business and training, economic policy issues, development of light industry and creative industries of the city, infrastructure, taxation and improving personal efficiency of entrepreneurs.
Lazzat Ramazanova, Chairperson of the Council of Businesswomen of the Atameken NCE RK in her speech noted that "women of our country willingly go into business, which is confirmed by official statistics. 45 % of business in Almaty is headed by women – 78,000 out of 174,5 thousand of operating small and medium enterprises are headed by women. This figure is 43% (536,000 out of 1.2 million) in the Republic. They showed great interest in the business training organized by Atameken last year. As part of the Enbek state programme, 75,000 people were trained in Kazakhstan, 40,700 of them (54%) were women. Under the Bastau project, 30,500 out of 55,000 women (55%) took the course. More than 10,000 (51%) of the 20,000 graduates of the Zhas Kasipiker project are young women".
Umut Shayakhmetova, Chairperson of the Board of Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan JSC, Lyazzat Ibragimova, Chairperson of the Board of ZhilStroiSberbank of Kazakhstan JSC, and representatives of Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund JSC and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development took part in the panel discussion on the topic "Support tools for women's business".
At the session "Fashion Industry as a Driver of Creative Economy", the idea was voiced that the contribution of a design product to the country's economy should be assessed not as a percentage of GDP, but by the level of new cultural paradigms that are being formed, as well as by improving the image of the country both among Kazakhstanis and abroad.
"Almaty has a very responsible mission in this respect. This is where the country's main creative products originate, so the focus of the city's development should be aimed at supporting and developing this environment," Inna Apenko, founder of the Mimioriki children's clothing brand, said.
The guests of the session were Ainur Turisbek, Zhanel Bertayeva (Lenazh), Kuralay Nurkadilova (Fashion House KURALAI), Asel Adili and Olga Kim (Brosh) - well-known women who daily contribute to the development of the creative economy of our country.
The Forum venue also hosted masterclasses and workshops on improving business efficiency, including such topics as an Agile approach to women's business, the impact of personal transformation on business profits, key changes in tax legislation.
"This is the second time we have held this Forum, and we already see its demand and benefit for the business community. I think the objective analysis of the situation, recommendations, and practical skills for women in Almaty are the combination that makes our project successful and necessary for the market", Asel Karaulova, Chairperson of Almaty Council of Businesswomen, President of Kazakhstan Press Club, said.
Please, join our Telegram channel to stay up to date on the latest news.
Leave comment:
Comments: