On 5th October 2018 in hotel “Porta” in Skopje was held round table discussion on the topic “Education- link with the entrepreneurship”, as part of the project “Enhancing contribution and efficiency of women’s entrepreneurship CSOs related to the EU integration reforms in the area of economic policy (WE- Contribute). The project is implemented by Foundation for Management and Industrial Research (MIR) in partnership with the Association of Business Women and GTF Initiative for sustainable growth from Croatia.
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The main objective of the project is to improve the response of the civil society towards the challenges of the EU integration process in the area of women entrepreneurship by providing experts, resources and experiences to complement the activities. The project will address some of the identified challenges and will contribute for positioning of women entrepreneurs and their organizations as one of the crucial social partners in the reform process for entering the EU – says Andonova, representative from the Foundation for Management and Industrial Research (MIR).
Valentina Disoska, president of the Association of Business woman of Macedonia pointed out that although there is a large number of highly educated women, they are not in the employment process, and even less in the process of creating policies or entrepreneurship.
- In general, education in Macedonia is on a very high level and there are a large number of staff with higher education, but it is evident that only a small part of them are engaged in entrepreneurship after the completion of education, especially with female entrepreneurship. We need to direct education to work towards creating new jobs through entrepreneurship. We are not yet aware of the fact that entrepreneurship is one of the basic guidelines for people to get employed and to be economically stable when they get out of the education process. On the contrary, it is recognized that they should be employed, especially in a state institution or bank. That is exactly why we are working to show that entrepreneurship can be the first choice after education is completed, emphasizes Disoska.
Women entrepreneurship in the country has not yet been built at a high level, although there is support and understanding from the institutions. Only 25 to 30 percent of businesses are owned by women, and it is particularly disastrous that they generate only 10 percent of turnover and profits. It shows that they are mostly in the micro segment, and we are working on their economic strengthening, said Disoska.
Entrepreneurship practices in educational institutions were presented by professor from the Faculty of Economics - Monika Angeloska - Dichovska, as well as shared experiences regarding education as a link with entrepreneurship by Maja Lukarova - Youth Entrepreneurial Service (YES). The event was attended by over 30 participants, representatives from the governmental and civil sector.