Armenia

Armenia Country Gender Assessmententrepreneurship with a timeline, budget, and responsible agencies, primarily the Smalland Medium Entrepreneurship Development National Center, a fund established by thegovernment in 2002. In addition, a large number of donors, international organizations, andNGOs have projects on women’s enterprise development and business training. In fact,of all women-focused projects in Armenia at present, the majority address a “women andentrepreneurship” theme.164. ADB is undertaking a 5-year program, the Women’s Entrepreneurship SupportSector Development Program, which aims to improve the role that female entrepreneursand micro and SMEs play in Armenia’s economic development and to reduce obstaclesto women’s participation. The program consists of two loans and technical assistance.The first loan is policy-based and strengthens the business environment and the Smalland Medium Entrepreneurship Development National Center. The second loan enablesparticipating financial institutions to provide local currency loans to micro and SMEs,of which at least 50% are to be women’s micro and SMEs. Technical assistance will beprovided to develop the entrepreneurial capacity of individual women and to increase thecapacity of key institutions to support them. 239165. The gender action plan for the program outlines several objectives aimed atboth female entrepreneurs specifically and micro and SMEs more generally: improvingthe institutional framework that enables private enterprise to develop, improving thecapacity of female entrepreneurs and micro and SMEs, and increasing access to finance.For each objective, targets to increase women’s participation and access to key resourcesare enumerated. For instance, at least half of the Small and Medium EntrepreneurshipDevelopment National Center Board of Trustees will be women, training programs andbusiness development services will target 40%–50% female participation, and at least 50%of certain types of loans are to be made to female entrepreneurs. 240166. Limited quantitative and qualitative sex-disaggregated data. Gender analysisin SME development is complicated by incomplete statistical data about women andmen in the business world. Most official data, such as numbers and types of registeredbusinesses, are not sex-disaggregated. Furthermore, available figures are inconsistent andgive only a partial view of women’s role in private enterprise. Discrepancies in data aboutwomen’s involvement in micro and SMEs are attributed to the use of varying definitions ormethodologies.167. Surveys and assessments that examine the number of women starting enterprisesin a given year reveal disparate information. By one estimate, only 3% of start-ups in2010 were “women’s businesses.” 241 A more recent study, however, suggested that thisfigure may be an overestimation of the number of male entrepreneurs. 242 According toa representative of the Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Development NationalCenter interviewed for this assessment, without any special incentives or initiatives, 30%239 ADB. 2012. Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors: Proposed Policy-Based Loan, Loan, and TechnicalAssistance Grant to Armenia for the Women’s Entrepreneurship Support Sector Development Program. Manila.240 The gender action plan is available from http://www.adb.org/projects/documents/womens-entrepreneurship-support-sectordevelopment-program-gap241 National Strategy of Small and Medium Entrepreneurship Development. SMEs in Armenia, A Statistical Overview. Women’sEntrepreneurship Promotion, 4. http://www.smednc.am/?laid=1&laid=1&com=module&module=static&id=173242 ADB. 2013. Study on Women’s SMEs in Armenia. Consultant’s report. Unpublished. p. 12.50