Armenian Young Women’s Association and the World Bank Group’s IFC Armenia Gender Project Support Women Entrepreneurship in Armenia

Armenian Young Women’s Association (AYWA) is working with the World Bank Group’s Armenia Gender Project, implemented by IFC, to help the country’s women entrepreneurs become more productive and improve their market access by improving links with buyers and producers. The efforts aim to improve entrepreneurs' skills and enhance value-chain participation through business education, mentoring, and networking activities.

As part of the work, in June 2018, the AYWA in cooperation with the World Bank Group’s project organized pilot training sessions on “Empowering women entrepreneurship through public-private dialog” and “Finding Opportunities with IFC (WBG Guiding Procurement Principles)” for women entrepreneurs from the Tavush and Lori regions. These were conducted by Syinat Arynova, a WBG Private Sector Specialist, and Suren Kristasatiryan, an IFC Associate Procurement Officer.

Syinat Arynova focused on the Kyrgyz Republic government’s success in establishing a Business and Investment Development Council in one of the regions, whose main goal is to help develop the private sector and improve the country’s investment climate. There are many challenges for sustainable development of the region: lack of communication and dialog between private and public sectors, unpredictable business climate and high unemployment rates.

In conditions of economic crisis, SMEs are becoming the main source of income for many women in Kyrgyz Republic as many Kyrgyz women engage in business start-ups to provide support for their families. Their performance as entrepreneurs strongly depends on the effectiveness of the business environment in the country. Therefore, it is important to have strategic communications between different levels of society to ensure successful public-private dialog (PPD).

Syinat Arynova presented the benefits of PPD for women entrepreneurs, such as pursuing the reforms as one voice and group to the government; conducting successful business activity through diversified skills set; gaining new skills from each other and being part of a large creative team; increasing income from large corporate orders; and ensuring steady income to support families.

Suren Kristasatiryan outlined the opportunities and benefits the World Bank Group, including IFC, can offer to its vendors and explained how women entrepreneurs can become vendors. For example, becoming a WBG vendor allows entrepreneurs and companies to participate in UN and international tenders, enabling them to potentially expand their customer base.

Mr. Kristasatiryan explained the structure of the WBG and its main procurement principles, general information about IFC and the types of goods and services it purchases, and the procurement process itself. He also provided participants with useful links for upcoming opportunities. In addition, he discussed WBG programs to support woman in business, including a corporate procurement initiative to boost supplier diversity and increase women business enterprises (WBE) in the WBG supply chain.

For more information about opportunities for local businesses visit: Business Opportunities main page: http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/corporate-procurement/business-opportunities; Opportunities for Goods, Services, and Works: http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/corporate-procurement/business-opportunities/administrative-procurement; Opportunities for Consulting Services to support WBG project work: http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/corporate-procurement/business-opportunities/operational-consulting-opportunities

The Armenia Gender project is funded by IFC, Austria’s Federal Ministry of Finance and the World Bank's multi-donor Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality.
Armenian Young Women’s Association (AYWA) value the support of the WBG/ IFC on promoting women’s entrepreneurship in Armenia.