You can too! How the EU supports women entrepreneurs in Moldova

The European Union is very active in supporting the development of new businesses, particularly among women and particularly in the regions of Moldova, often with a focus on rural and disadvantaged areas. So don’t think that you need to be in Chisinau, to have a higher education or an established business in order to access EU support – on the contrary!

The EU supports a number of programmes and business support facilities that provide know how, practical help, and even funding to help you start your business – in fact you may end up taking advantage of several of them!

Here are some examples:

The EU4Moldova: Focal Regions (Cahul and Ungheni) programme provides support to entrepreneurs, including those involved in social entrepreneurship, for improving entrepreneurship knowledge and skills, ranging from branding and marketing, ICT skills, market information to innovation and financial management. The programme provides both training and grants for business support.

If you are interested in technology and innovation, or want to create a start-up in the innovative sector, the Startup City Cahul programme provides entrepreneurial education programmes, start-up creation and development opportunities, and the development of an EU4Innovation centre, which will develop local services and programmes and activities to encourage the use of technologies.

The project on Harnessing CSOs’ potential to promote and develop social entrepreneurship in Moldova offers access to professional consultations and a strong capacity building programme, especially on business and financial management, and for regional social business hubs to guide social enterprises. Check out the East Europe Foundation website for opportunities and funding.

The EU

-funded Collaborate for Impact project aims to develop social entrepreneurship and social investment in the Eastern Partnership countries. In Moldova, it partners with Ecovisio to increase awareness and collaboration among social enterprises and civil society organisations and provide access to non-financial resources, education and mentoring programmes. Check out the Ecovisio website and Facebook page for news and opportunities, as well as other EU-funded resources for social entrepreneurship developed by Ecovisio. Visit the Collaborate for Impact website for success stories and podcasts from Moldova.

The network of business incubators in 10 regions of Moldova (Ștefan Vodă, Leova, Rezina, Nisporeni, Cahul, Cosnita, Sîngerei, Ceader Lunga, Cimislia and Calarasi) set up by the Organisation for SME Sector Development (ODIMM) with the support of the EU, provides business counselling and mentoring, legal advice and accounting support, seminars and courses on how to start a business, draw up a business plan, communicate with customers, or expand into foreign markets.

People on both sides of the Nistru River can receive business coaching and information under the Support for Confidence Building Measures programme, which aims to improve living conditions by increasing economic opportunities and creating jobs; hundreds of entrepreneurs have already obtained business consulting and entrepreneurial training, including in digital marketing. The project has also opened a business hub in Tiraspol for IT specialists and start-ups, as well as four business platforms, and also provides support to civil society and media initiatives. Find out more about the project and follow the UNDP Moldova Facebook page for new opportunities.

In addition, the EU4Youth programme will soon launch a series of projects aimed at enhancing youth employment and entrepreneurship, including mentoring, training programmes and apprenticeships. The previous wave of EU4Youth projects saw hundreds of young Moldovans benefit from skills development activities, as well as start-ups launched with support from EU4Youth projects. Follow the EU4Youth page for upcoming opportunities.