A few months ago, the Coalition of Women’s Business Associations, Romania, submitted a protest to the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, in reference to a number of unfriendly fiscal and financial measures that the government has adopted, in order to increase its budget.

Under the slogan “We Care”, the Coalition suggested a set of ten alternative measures that should help support the business environment, especially because some fiscal measures that were adopted by the Government in 2009 have determined the closure of around 150,000 SMEs. CAFA proposed that, instead of those measures, which are simply aimed at raising more money now, the government should introduce measures that stimulate work and the creation of more jobs, and allow companies to become stable and even to grow. Such measures are: the elimination of the mandatory income tax income introduced in 2009; the elimination of the 5% and 10% late penalties that only private companies must pay (as opposed to state-owned companies, which are exempted from paying penalties); increasing the transparency of the laws on public acquisitions; simplifying the procedures for granting European funds to SMEs; introducing VAT deduction procedures for natural persons; eliminating the tax on reinvested profit, etc.

Continue reading ‘The Coalition of Women’s Business Associations Sets a Good Example for Romanian Civil Society’ »

The Association of Business Women and Top Managers in Brasov, Romania (AFAFCI) has organized a launch event for a new CIPE publication “Women’s Business Associations, Experiences from Around the World: Central and Eastern Europe”, which is part of CIPE’s Women Paper Series. The publication presents findings on the current state of women’s business associations in 14 countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania, FYROM, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, and Poland). It also includes a case study on the Association of Business Women and Top Managers in Brasov, Romania (AFAFCI). AFAFCI has translated the case study into Romanian and printed it at its own expense. The translated version is meant to complement the English version of the study.

The event, which focused on women entrepreneurs and the international recognition of AFAFCI’s work, was hosted by Brasov Chamber of Commerce and Industry and featured CIPE Regional Office Program Director Camelia Bulat, as well as the author of the case study, Cornelia Rotaru, as guest speakers. Ms. Rotaru is also President of another prominent Romanian women entrepreneurs’ organization, the Association for the Development of Women Entrepreneurship (ADAF).

Continue reading ‘The Association of Business Women and Top Managers in Brasov (Romania) Launches CIPE Publication’ »

CIPE’s most recent case study on women’s business associations focuses on Central and Eastern Europe, and features Association for Women Entrepreneurship Development President Cornelia Rotaru’s case study on one of the most resounding success stories in the region – the Association of Business Women and Top Managers (AFAFCI), in Brasov county, Romania.

CIPE Regional Office has had the pleasure of sharing the study with its partners in the Coalition of Business Women Associations (CAFA) and the Balkan Coalition of Women Business Associations. The two coalitions were born with CIPE support and CIPE Regional Office’s direct involvement in 2004 and 2005 respectively, AFAFCI being one of both coalitions’ founding members. CIPE Regional Office will also be represented at a press conference to be held in Brasov, in August, whose purpose is to disseminate the findings of the study, and more specifically the findings of Ms. Rotaru’s case study.

Continue reading ‘The Association of Business Women and Top Managers – the Case for Success’ »

CIPE’s fourth regional study of women’s business associations features Central and Eastern Europe. This report by Cornelia Rotaru explores the business environment, the role of women’s associations, and the status of women-owned businesses:

By reducing poverty and social exclusion, women’s business associations have contributed to job creation, advocated for sensible public policy, and started social responsibility initiatives. Business women’s organizations are actively engaged in entrepreneurship development, and provide necessary services to women: training in management and marketing, foreign languages, business information and contacts, participation in fairs and exhibitions, and IT support. Women’s business groups around the region have engaged women in the social or ethnic reconciliation process.

Continue reading ‘Women’s Business Associations in Central and Eastern Europe’ »

Mirlinda Kusari, Executive Director of She-Era, at the CIPE Headquarters in Washington, DC.

On April 26th and 27th, 250 entrepreneurs from developing and developed nations joined President Obama for the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington, DC. Among these business innovators was Mirlinda Kusari Executive Director of She-Era, Kosovo’s first NGO dedicated to women’s entrepreneurship and a former CIPE partner. CIPE took the opportunity to talk to Ms. Kusari about the initial forum that inspired her to found She-Era, the organization’s achievements in over a decade serving Kosovo’s female entrepreneurs, and the significance of the partnership with CIPE. To date, She-Era has trained over 5,000 women in starting up and operating businesses, and has provided mentoring and market research services to up to 10,000 entrepreneurs (both men and women) in Kosovo.

Continue reading ‘A Time for Women in Kosovo’ »

The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) invites young people to share their ideas on how to create opportunities for youth to strengthen democracy and the private sector in their countries. Students and young professionals aged 18-30 are welcome to participate by writing an essay on one of the three topics: Democracy that delivers, Entrepreneurship and society, or Women and participation. Winning articles will be published by CIPE and receive a $1,000 honorarium.

Please visit the 2010 International Youth Essay Contest website at www.cipe.org/essay for further information and details about the contest.

To share an item with the Community of Women Entrepreneurs send an email to: partners@cipe.org

Each year the world celebrates March as a special month for honoring women. Different organizations hold seminars, conferences, and workshops about women’s role in the society, while media devotes a lot of attention to women issues.

But we at CIPE don’t think about women only in March. During the entire year we seek ways to improve women’s lives, their businesses, and their families’ livelihood. We work closely with women business associations, chambers of commerce for women, and other groups dedicated to building women’s leadership in public, community, and business life.

We’ve done many things in Romania to achieve just that…

Read the full article: Successful Women Prove that Value Has No Gender

SMEs owned by women create the bulk of formal employment in most economies around the world. Women’s business associations can provide support for women-owned SMEs, and thereby assume the role of influential community change-makers and stakeholders. However, business leaders in developing countries, in particular women business leaders, face challenges that entrepreneurs in developed countries may never encounter. These barriers fall into two key categories: instability and infrastructure.

Closely tied to cultural, social, economic, and political country conditions, instability involves the struggles of women dealing with patriarchal restraints, corruption, and sometimes organized crime and war. Infrastructure barriers deal with weak or lacking institutions that inhibit women’s ability to conduct business. These include: property rights, recognition of women’s rights as human rights, accounting, taxation, and banking rules, and civil law. Overcoming the challenges posed by instability and infrastructure calls for an engagement of women’s NGOs and business associations as agents of change, as they advocate, support, and amplify necessary reforms

Read the full article: Empowering Women through Non-governmental Organizations and Women’s Business Associations.

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As we celebrate International Women’s Day, I am thinking of one of our earlier advocates for women’s rights here in the U.S. Susan B. Anthony was a suffragette in the days when that word carried a lot of opprobrium, but she stood fast for her principles and improved life for us all. Today is a different world and there is a lot more information and support available for women seeking to make a difference.

Where can women in your country access such information and support? Is there data available? Who is at the vanguard of representing women’s political enfranchisement and economic empowerment?

I’m interested in knowing more about the resources out there!

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Dear Community of Women Entrepreneurs,

My name is Dr. Andrea Smith-Hunter and I am currently a professor at Siena College in the United States. I am writing a book on women entrepreneurs globally and I would like European women entrepreneurs to complete the questionnaire available online at:

www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=042mn6lHBCi2TQSkgfrdFQ_3d_3d

I hope the women entrepreneurs who are a part of this network will agree to participate in this study as soon as possible. Preliminary results from the study will be made available on June 30, 2010. The book, Women Entrepreneurs in the Global Marketplace, will be published by Edward Elgar Publishing in late 2010.

My hope is that the results from the study will provide the world with some additional insight on all women entrepreneurs globally.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

To share an item with the Community of Women Entrepreneurs, send it to partners@cipe.org