On 13 October 2026, the Center for Democracy Foundation organised a debate in Pirot entitled “From Business Idea to Sustainable Business: How Can Support for Women Entrepreneurs in the Pirot District Be Improved?”, with the aim of translating women’s experiences, the results of project activities, and an analysis of existing support measures into concrete proposals for improving local policies.
The debate was organised within the framework of the “My Idea, My Business” project, which focuses on the economic empowerment of women, strengthening their entrepreneurial capacities, and creating a more enabling local environment for starting and developing businesses.
From Women’s Empowerment to Local Policy Proposals
As part of the project, a training programme entitled “Develop Your Idea: First Steps Towards a Sustainable Business” was organised in June 2026, enabling 17 women from the Pirot District to develop their business ideas and acquire practical knowledge and skills for starting and running their own businesses.
Based on an analysis of existing support measures and the experiences of women involved in project activities, a local policy proposal entitled “From Individual Incentives to Continuous Support for Women’s Entrepreneurship in the Pirot District” was developed and presented at the debate.
Support for Women Does Not End with Business Registration
Although Pirot already implements dedicated subsidy programmes for women’s entrepreneurship, ensuring the sustainability of women-owned businesses requires stronger links between financial incentives, training, advisory services, mentoring, and access to markets.
We therefore proposed an integrated local support programme, “From Idea to Sustainable Business”, which would provide continuous support to women, particularly those from rural areas and vulnerable groups, by building on existing institutional capacities.
Dialogue on Concrete Support Measures
The debate brought together representatives of local government, the National Employment Service, the business sector, civil society organisations, and women entrepreneurs.
Discussions focused on the accessibility of existing measures, the barriers women face when starting and developing businesses, and opportunities to improve support through more concrete and better-coordinated local programmes. The experiences of women entrepreneurs themselves were particularly valuable, enabling the proposed solutions to be considered from the perspective of their actual needs.
Through this project, we link the direct economic empowerment of women with advocacy for changes in local policies, seeking to ensure that the knowledge and experience gained through training contribute to the development of longer-term and more accessible support measures.
The local policy proposal remains open for comments and further contributions and provides a basis for continued consultations and advocacy for a more sustainable system of support for women’s entrepreneurship in the Pirot District.
The economic empowerment of women is not only about starting new businesses, but also about gender equality, social inclusion, and sustainable local development.
✨ The “My Idea, My Business: Project to Empower Women for Entrepreneurship and Climate Change Resilience in Southern Serbia” is implemented by the Center for Democracy Foundation with the financial support of the European Association for Local Democracy (ALDA) within the BOOST project, funded by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
Center for Democracy Foundation
