In a country where women make up more than half of the population, Ukraine’s executive boards are full of men.
Men lead 60% of companies in Ukraine, no improvement since 2017, according to a study published in April by the United Nations Development Program.
In response, female leaders have decided to take the matter into their own hands through numerous initiatives to boost women’s entrepreneurship in the country.
The Women’s Business Chamber of Ukraine, which already boasts 300 members since it was launched in 2019 in the western city of Lviv, is one of them.
Gender-based discrimination in the workplace is a major issue in Ukraine, Natalya Karpenchuk-Konopatska, the chamber’s president said on June 23.
Women need more economic power in Ukraine, a mantra she expressed during the First Women’s Economic Forum in the country held in the western city of Lutsk on June 17.
“Our poverty has a female face,” she said at the forum.
Public initiatives
Gender inequality in Ukraine’s labor market is striking: the country ranks 59th out of 153 countries according to the International Gender Gap Index report 2020 published by the World Economic Forum.
Women only own 11 companies out of Ukraine’s 330 largest enterprises or 3% of this market, a massive gap highlighted in a report published in March by the analytic agency YouControl.
That is far too few for Karpenchuk-Konopatska, who believes women need access to business education and training to develop professionally.
The aim of the chamber is “to promote the development of women’s economic opportunities, to develop women’s entrepreneurship and careers, and to protect women’s labor rights,” she said.
The Women’s Business Chamber of Ukraine, which already has 10 branches across Ukraine, opened its first office in Kyiv in December and plans to expand to other cities around the country.
The organization works at the national and local level to put businesswomen in contact with foreign business associations and organizations as well as international companies.
Since its launch in 2019, the chamber has already held 170 events including women’s business forums, international business meetings and collective discussions on the topic. The central goal in these initiatives is to instill confidence in businesswomen’s ability to create a business or lead a company.
A survey conducted in 2015 among 10,000 Ukrainian businesswomen by American researchers from the University of Phoenix in the U.S. showed respondents tend to lack confidence in this sector.
Almost 40% of respondents said they doubted their abilities when opening their own business in Ukraine. Promoting such training could help avoid obstacles in the field of entrepreneurship and ensure economic development on the ground, the American researchers emphasized in their study.
Foreign help
While educational programs in entrepreneurship are one solution to the problem, local female leaders also need more money.
Banks, local funds, and investors should turn their attention to women by providing them with financial assistance in the form of seed capital to start their own businesses.
Such projects help entrepreneurs overcome financial barriers in Ukraine, which are considered one of the biggest obstacles. This is where an initiative such as the “Businesswoman Award,” initiated by the French-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, comes into play.
The country’s first award for women entrepreneurs was launched in 2019 in the wake of the Me Too movement, Maud Chicheporte, the head of the French-Ukrainian chamber, told the Kyiv Post on June 24. “
The CCI decided to create a women’s committee and women decided to support and promote other women,” she said.
The contest aims to support Ukrainian women’s entrepreneurship and honor women who have recently founded their own small and medium-sized company in Ukraine.
As part of the award, women entrepreneurs receive a $3,660 (Hr 100,000) check and benefit from the consulting services from French companies. This award brings them enough visibility to sign potential contracts to boost businesses in Ukraine and abroad, she said.
“It brings them confidence, visibility and even contracts,” Chicheporte said. “A few French brands already expressed their interests in this year’s applications.”
She didn’t specify which ones, as this year’s winner is set to be announced at the beginning of July.
Three winners will be selected out of 100 applications by a jury of businesswomen at the head of French companies in Ukraine, including dairy product leader Danone and distribution network Auchan.
The jury chooses the finalists based on what business plan the candidate has drawn up, what goals they’ve set for the next three years, their financial plan, and a personal interview.
The number of applications is growing every year, especially in information technology, Chicheporte said.
Yet female leaders represent only 20% of the French-Ukrainian chamber’s members overall.
“But I have committed myself to find more feminine voices,” she said. “Because whatever the topic is, you can always find a female expert.”
