This was announced by Lazzat Ramazanova, Chairman of the Business Women's Council of the NCE RK "Atameken", during a business forum for women of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in Tashkent.

Lazzat Ramazanova in her speech spoke about the existing directions and prospects of women's entrepreneurship in Kazakhstan

"The constructive interaction of business circles of our countries creates favorable opportunities for cooperation in the field of women's entrepreneurship. According to the UN, the stability of the state has a direct connection with the economic, social and political rights of women. This is evidenced by numerous studies, for example, the Boston Consulting Group found out that companies established by women generate more income than those where the management consists of men only. Kazakhstan does not lag behind these trends: today women of Kazakhstan make a special contribution to the development of our state. Women work in various spheres of the economy, including civil service, science, business, education and healthcare," - Lazzat Ramazanova stressed.

Kazakhstan takes the second place in the world after China by the share of working women - 49%. More than 60% of small and medium-sized businesses in our country are already managed by women, and these figures will grow every year. Kazakhstani women form about 40% of the country's GDP.

"The role of gender balance in Kazakhstan is recognized at the highest level, specific tasks and indicators are formulated in the Strategic Development Plan of Kazakhstan until 2025. One of the directions of this document is to ensure equal access of men and women to all types of resources necessary for entrepreneurial activity. These measures include analyzing the availability of public services and government support for SMEs in a gender perspective, reducing administrative barriers to the development of women's entrepreneurship. Being aware of the role of a happy and successful woman in the well-being of society, "Atameken" created on its site the Council of Business Women among the first advisory bodies," - the Chairman of the Council stressed.

Thanks to the formed system of "Atameken" for 2 years time it became possible to build an extensive network of representatives of the Council of Business Women in all corners of the country - 16 regional councils and 170 councils headed by successful women were established in district centers.

"We can confidently say that we have united successful, socially active entrepreneurs of all regions of Kazakhstan. Atameken provides various forms of support to young women entrepreneurs and beginners through the Business Women's Council. This year we announced a new stage in the development of women's entrepreneurship, which includes 3 strategic directions," - Lazzat Ramazanova specified, detailing each of them.

The first direction is providing access to finance. Most recently, with the assistance of "Atameken", heads of the Women's Business Councils of the Regions established the Women's Entrepreneurship Support Fund. The creation of the Fund allows to solve the problem of access to finance, common for all entrepreneurs, through the mechanism of microcrediting. We have signed memorandums with investors.

"At the initiative of our Business Women's Council, the first program of preferential microcrediting of women entrepreneurs with a capital of KZT 1 billion was launched by providing targeted loans for the implementation of business projects in priority sectors," - the head of the Council explains.

Here, the Fund and the Business Women's Council will act as a Credit Committee when considering women's entrepreneurship projects.

The second direction is the launch of educational programs for women's entrepreneurship and the support of business projects implemented through microcredit. The Women's Entrepreneurship Support Fund is designed to become a think-tank for women's entrepreneurship, where innovative and effective solutions will be developed, skills training and business support will be conducted.

"The Foundation will become a platform for meeting of future entrepreneurs and mentors. Mentoring and education are especially necessary for women in regions and villages, since it is there where they often lack the skills and confidence to start their own business. Therefore, we are carrying out large-scale work on training women, including courses on cooperative entrepreneurship and the most demanded jobs in the labor market. As Napoleon said, if you want the birth of a civilized and educated nation - first provide mothers with education," - Lazzat Ramazanova noted.

The third direction is the development of women's cooperative entrepreneurship.

"This is perhaps the most long-term and strategically important direction. Women's Council has a high opportunity to focus women's entrepreneurial potential in the most socially important segments of Kazakhstan society. In this direction, our Council is doing a great job. Under the auspices of the Council, women's professional communities are created using the centuries-old experience of guilds and workshops, which in modern realities is transformed into the creation of self-regulating organizations and cooperatives. For example, the union of designers of clothes, association of designers of an interior and decorators, handicraftsmen and confectioners. The potential of cooperatives is in demand in such areas as the supply of food products from the village to the city, the production of clothing and services," - Lazzat Ramazanova explains.

A specific product of these measures will be women's manufacturing and consumer cooperatives involving a large number of self-employed women. A business ecosystem will be formed around each cooperative, having a multiplier effect on the development of mass entrepreneurship and social integration.

"I am confident that the creation of such a multi-level platform will give impetus to the development of women's entrepreneurship and social progress in general. As a result, the implementation of these three areas will contribute to the emergence of a new generation of enterprising citizens with an active lifestyle and the desire to take their country to the forefront not only in business, but also in science, technology, public service and other areas of state development," - Lazzat Ramazanova summed up. 

During the forum the State Secretary of the Republic of Kazakhstan Gulshara Abdykalikova spoke. At the end of the business forum, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the National Commission for Women and Family and Demographic Policy under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Women's Committee of Uzbekistan.

Within the framework of the business forum, B2B negotiations between the Kazakh delegation and Uzbek businesswomen took place at the site of the cooperation exchange. During the meeting, business agreements and memoranda of cooperation are to be signed.