Support for female entrepreneurship is a multidimensional economic policy measure because it has a developmental, demographic, and social component. In the Republic of Serbia, in 2023, there were about 39 thousand registered entrepreneurs aged 18 to 30, i.e. those who are young adults. About 27 thousand entrepreneurial businesses were founded by men, and about 12 thousand by women.
The conclusion is that there is a disproportionately higher number of male entrepreneurs among young people because the gender distribution in the entire population of the Republic of Serbia is approximately equal – 51% women and 49% men.All previous experience in the work of the Institute for Development and Innovation shows that financial assistance, which is usually offered by currently existing economic policy measures, is not the most important thing in supporting young entrepreneurs.
Support for female and youth entrepreneurship is necessary so that young people can master the basic tools for entrepreneurship development and through them develop and test their entrepreneurial ideas. Also, young entrepreneurs primarily need help in acquiring knowledge in the fields of marketing and design.
The final event of the project “Ekonomski snažne!”
After 10 months of the project “Ekonomski snažne!”, which was supported by the Ministry of Family Care and Demography, the Institute for Development and Innovation organized a final event on December 10, 2024, at the GRAD Cultural Center in Belgrade.
The event was an opportunity for project participants, mentors, as well as successful entrepreneurs to gather in one place and exchange experiences for the next period of development of entrepreneurial ideas of project participants “Ekonomski snažne!”.
The closing event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Family Care and Demography, as well as members of the immediate families of the entrepreneurs. The event was also an opportunity for the entrepreneurs-participants of the “Economically Strong!” project to present the products that they developed during the project.
Panel discussion as motivation for further entrepreneurship
The main part of the event was occupied by a panel discussion with successful entrepreneurs, which aimed to motivate the participants of the “Ekonomski snažne!” project to further work on their entrepreneurial ideas, as well as for the participants to hear the experiences and challenges of already successful entrepreneurs.
The panel discussion was moderated by Nenad Jevtović in front of the Institute for Development and Innovation, and the panelists were Ana Nešić, founder of the platform “Mali proizvođači hrane u Srbiji”, Vedrana Nedeljkov from the Nedeljkov family farm, and Slavica Antonić, founder of the brand “Slatka teglica”. The panel discussed how the panelists became entrepreneurs, the challenges and most difficult moments in business, what views and advice they can give about hiring external consultants, as well as what challenges they faced during the growth of their business.
After answering the questions of the participants of the “Ekonomski snažne!” project, the second part of the panel discussion was dedicated to balancing parenthood and entrepreneurship. They discussed whether running your own business is a better environment for balancing work and family responsibilities, as well as what the advantages and disadvantages are compared to working for corporations and large firms.
