The project “Economically Strong! 2” supports young women in developing business ideas and is being implemented for the second year in a row. It is supported by the Ministry of Family Care and Demography and will be carried out over a six-month period – from July to December 2025.
Faced with deeply rooted structural gender inequalities in the labor market, Serbia today suffers the consequences of decades-long marginalization of women. Although there has been noticeable progress in education levels and women’s participation in the workforce, statistical indicators still reveal significant disparities in employment, income levels, and working conditions compared to men.
Young women are particularly affected, with significantly lower activity and employment rates, and higher unemployment rates compared to men of the same age. The data also points to deeper socio-economic consequences – a decline in fertility and an increase in the number of childless couples.
Demographic statistics for 2022 show that one-third of women who gave birth that year had no income at the time, while more than 600,000 couples in Serbia are without children. Labor market inequality is also evident in the data from the Serbian Business Registers Agency (SBRA).
The data shows that for every two young male entrepreneurs, there is only one young female entrepreneur, even though the share of men and women in the general population is nearly equal. All of this confirms the need for stronger support for young women who wish to start their own businesses.
The “Economically Strong! 2” project is implemented with the aim of improving the socio-economic status of young women aged 18 to 30, with a special focus on enhancing their economic position in society and encouraging childbirth. During the six-month duration of the project, women from across the territory of the Republic of Serbia will participate.
Supporting economic activation and integration of the young women into the labor market is not only a matter of equality, but also a strategic demographic and development issue.
The two main project activities will focus on the implementation of training programs. The first training program covers entrepreneurship, graphic design, and marketing for women aged 18 to 30 who are unemployed and/or have a business idea they wish to realize.
The second training program focuses on market positioning and improving competitiveness for those young women who have already started their businesses and wish to further develop and enhance them. At the end of the project, expert mentoring will be organized, where participants will be connected with key partners for their further career development.
The Institute for Development and Innovation starts from the premise that current trends not only affect the demographic landscape of the country but also undermine the potential for long-term economic and social development. Considering that there are around 350,000 young women aged 18 to 30 in Serbia, supporting their economic activation and integration into the labor market is not only a matter of equality, but also a strategic demographic and development issue.
By establishing concrete support for the launch and improvement of women-led businesses, the Institute for Development and Innovation aims to contribute to building a society where economic stability and family life are not mutually exclusive, but instead support one another.
The “Economically Strong! 2” project seeks to take an innovative and comprehensive approach, acting simultaneously on multiple levels – economic, social, and demographic.
