Улаанбаатар
EBRD Mongolia hosted dialogue on creating supportive environment for women entrepreneurship in Mongolia
Society
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Mongolia is actively engaging in policy
dialogue and economic cooperation towards EBRD’s Women in Business Project. The
country is expected to improve its international ranking among Central Asian
nations regarding the World Economic Forum’s Gender Equality Gap Index.
In Mongolia, over 67 percent of women owned small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs) are micro-businesses but an average loan size for women-owned companies
is three times less than loans offered to to men-owned businesses. Although
Mongolia has made significant progress in gender equality in the past few
years, the efforts are yet to give a significant return.
The EBRD’s Women of the Steppe Programme in Central Asia is trying to address this issue. Launched in 2019, it is helping promote women’s entrepreneurship and business activity by assisting with access to finance, know-how and technical advice. Currently, the programme is being implemented in the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Under the framework of the programme, the EBRD office in Mongolia
in collaboration with the Bank’s Gender and Inclusion Department and the
National Committee on Gender Equality hosted a webinar on “Central Asian Women
in Business Programme” on May 13, 2021. The webinar provided a platform for the
first joint public-private dialogue on creating supportive environment for
women entrepreneurship and economic empowerment in Mongolia.
Close to fifty
delegates, including H.E. Mrs. Ariunzaya Ayush, Member of the Cabinet of the
Government, Minister for Labour and Social Protection of Mongolia, Mrs.
Enkhbayar. Secretary of the National Committee on Gender Equality, Chief of the
NCGE Secretariat, Mr.Batdavaa Batmunkh Chairman of National Statistics Office
etc. participated in the event.
