Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

Every second entrepreneur in Kazakhstan's small business sphere is a woman.

The news was announced by chairman of Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund Lyazzat Ibrahimova on March 11 at a briefing in Astana.

"Women account for over 49 percent od individual entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan," Lyazzat Ibrahimova said.

She said the mass entrance of women into entrepreneurship in the last 10 years is called a quiet revolution.

"Today, Kazakhs have more options to choose from: to work for an employer or for themselves. And women frequently choose the second option," Ibrahimova said.

She noted that women go into business in the field in which they have received education and knowledge.

"There are many female dentists and doctors in Kazakhstan who had their clientele and began to create their own dental and specialized medical centers. There are many female teachers who began to create their own educational centers," Ibrahimova said.

She said every third loan guaranteed by the Damu Fund has been issued to a woman entrepreneur.

"Some 38 percent of the total number of projects got concessional loans in commercial banks and 33 percent of them got guarantee for loans. In other words, every third loan which has received Damu Fund's guarantee has been issued to a female entrepreneur," Ibrahimova said.

She recalled that the funds for issuing loans under the program of women's micro-crediting have been placed in commercial banks that are Damu Fund's partners under certain conditions.

"With this money, the banks can only finance businesses owned or co-owned by a woman. The amount of the loan should not exceed 30 million tenge ($ 1=182.09 tenge), and the rate on the loan should not exceed 14 percent per annum," Ibrahimova said.

The Damu Entrepreneurship Development Fund is one of the 10 development institutes transferred to Baiterek holding. The fund's main aim is to develop small and medium-sized businesses in Kazakhstan.

Baiterek National Managing Holding was established under a decree of the Kazakh president as of May 22, 2013. The purpose of its establishment was to promote the development and diversification of the economy, attract investments, and improve the corporate governance system in its subsidiaries.