00:30Welcome to East-West Connect. We're highlighting business and economic opportunities in Kazakhstan and the wider Central Asia region, connecting with Europe and beyond.
00:41As of early this year, Kazakhstan now has 2.2 million SMEs, nearly half, owned by women, mostly in Almaty, Astana and Shemkent.
00:50Women-led businesses mainly operate in services, retail and education, with rising activity in agribusiness and creative industries.
00:58They offer everything from beauty and tailoring to children's centers, online learning and creator-made products.
01:05To walk us through how Kazakhstan aims to grow the number of women-led enterprises, we're joined by Leila Kulyanova,
01:11Chairwoman of the Women's Entrepreneurship Committee at the Atomiken National Chamber of Entrepreneurship.
01:17Ms. Kulyanova, thanks for joining us.
01:21Здравствуйте.
01:21What support mechanisms have delivered the strongest results for women entrepreneurs, and what programs are being prepared to build on the progress?
01:30Одним из лучших инструментов, которые у нас есть, это, конечно же, программа ОМЭД, которая реализуется фондом по развитию предпринимательства ДАМУ.
01:42Это довольно-таки хорошее льготное аккредитование, и за два года существования данной программы уже было аккредитовано более 17 тысяч женщин.
01:51В рамках комитетов по развитию женского предпринимательства в каждом городе нашей страны, в региональных палатах, созданы международные советы,
02:00куда могут обращаться все женщины-предприниматели страны.
02:04То есть основная цель нашего комитета – это как раз-таки развитие женщин.
02:07What steps are being taken to include women from socially vulnerable groups into entrepreneurial activity?
02:13При Национальной палате предпринимателей есть тоже успешный проект в поддержку сельских женщин.
02:20Он называется «Одно село, один продукт».
02:22Там, допустим, очень, вроде бы, простой подход, но очень эффективный.
02:27Допустим, очень много женщин в селах, которые занимаются, допустим, шитьем или же сельским хозяйством своим домашним,
02:34но у них не было возможности или навыков, или же знаний, чтобы открыть бизнес.
02:40И вот этот проект как раз-таки создан для того, чтобы помочь таким женщинам создать свой бренд, свою упаковку,
02:46выйти на внутренние рынки, показать себя.
02:49Этот проект уже несколько лет идет, и у него очень хорошие результаты.
02:53То есть мы видим, как уже такое очень большое сообщество этого проекта особ,
02:58и где они каждый раз встречаются на выставках, идет сопровождение,
03:02и эти женщины друг другу помогают, и уже есть им что выставлять.
03:06Вот какой-то такой классный продукт.
03:08Ms. Kulinova, thank you for your insightful answers.
03:11Спасибо большое.
03:11One entrepreneur has managed to grow her company several times over,
03:17from a small to a mid-sized business.
03:20This is her story.
03:21Leila Irsalieva runs a catering company, serving B2B clients, corporate events, and households,
03:30from salads and pastries to full-course meals.
03:32What began as a 65-square-meter kitchen with three staff has grown fourfold to a 40-person team,
03:39with plans to expand to 240 square meters by year's end.
03:43She credits government support and the Joint Women in Business program
04:01with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for helping her conduct market research.
04:06The state-run Dammu Fund also provided preferential loans to purchase essential equipment.
04:12Looking ahead, Leila plans to close the production cycle by venturing into greenhouse farming,
04:33growing her own tomatoes, cucumbers, and leafy greens to meet the growing needs of her catering kitchen.
04:41Since 2007, the Dammu Entrepreneurship Development Fund has provided about 7.6 billion euro
04:48in financial instruments to support women entrepreneurs, backing more than 110,000 projects,
04:54nearly 30% of all issued loans.
04:56The government is also working with EBRD to unlock the potential of women-led SMEs
05:02through technical assistance and commercial banks.
05:06Joining us to discuss the outcomes of this program is the EBRD's Head of SME Finance and Development in Emerging Markets,
05:13Simone T. Atanasovsky.
05:16Mrs. Simone T. Atanasovsky, welcome.
05:20Thank you so much for the invitation.
05:21What economic impact could female entrepreneurship have in Kazakhstan and Central Asia
05:26and what barriers still prevent women-led businesses from scaling?
05:31Global studies suggest that if women were to participate in economies on equal footing to men,
05:37the world would unlock up to 6 trillion US dollars in additional growth.
05:42And Central Asia and Kazakhstan is no exception to that.
05:45Two main barriers to this.
05:46First of all, women continue to face more obstacles when it comes to accessing financing.
05:51That's due to collateral gaps, due to gender bias in lending,
05:56and also because financial products are just unsuitable for the specific needs and profiles of women.
06:02And secondly, they don't have the same access to business development opportunities.
06:06They have fewer networks, stereotypes and social norms
06:10that prevent them from operating in higher growth sectors.
06:15And also unpaid care duties and responsibilities means that they have fewer flexibility
06:20and time to actually invest in their business.
06:23Our work here in Kazakhstan is embedded in a global EBRD women in business framework,
06:29which to date has channeled over 1 billion euro of investments into female-led enterprises
06:34and supported over a quarter of a million women across 23 countries.
06:38And here in Central Asia and Mongolia, the program has so far delivered over 360 million US dollars
06:44and supported 115,000 women to date.
06:48How can strengthening women-led SMEs contribute to regional stability, sustainable growth?
06:54We see based on the global women in business program that we operate
06:59that actually we see very positive repayment behaviors and positive growth
07:04in our women in business portfolio.
07:06And the non-performing loans are actually below the average SME lending rates.
07:12In addition, we see globally that companies that are led by or have more female ownership
07:20tend to have lower bankruptcy rates, are more responsible in taking risks
07:27and are also a lot more crisis resilient.
07:29And beyond that, we know that women are more prone to invest into or reinvest into communities.
07:38They are more consciously aware of the environment.
07:40And overall, therefore, their contribution has a broader socioeconomic impact,
07:46including on sustainability.
07:48Mrs. Simone Tiaz-Onozowski, it was such a pleasure having you.
07:51Thank you so much for the invitation.
07:54Bye for now and see you in the next episode of EastWest Connect.
07:57We'll see you in the next episode of EastWest Connect.
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