16.07.2003 Nina Noeva, Chairman, International Association of Professional and Business Women in Bulgaria (IAPBWB)

One of the accents should be improvement of the communication infrastructure in the country

Exclusively for ECON.BG

Mrs. Noeva, would you present the International Association of Professional and Business Women in Bulgaria?

Nina Noeva:

The International Association of Professional and Business Women in Bulgaria (IAPBWB) was established in 2001. In the relatively short period of its existence the Association won recognition as one of the leading women business and professional organizations in the country with wide acknowledgement and presence in Bulgaria and abroad. The Association is an equal member and participates actively in the activities of the leading international women’s professional and business networks. I’d like to emphasize that the IAPBWB is member of The International Alliance for Women – one of the most influential organizations of this type worldwide. To a certain degree, it can be said, that we are gradually winning recognition as a leading structure of this type in Southeast Europe and we aim to increase our potential.

What distinguishes the Association of Professional and Business Women is that we organized ourselves independently with the purpose to work for our interests as well as for the interests of women in society. The Association provides opportunities for establishment of useful contacts between women of business and all spheres of public life in order to extend their professional development and support their business. At the same time, the IAPBWB gives the possibility for realization of international contacts through the business networks that we participate in.

One of the Association’s priorities is empowerment of women, professional development and improvement of their social status. This is one the Millennium Goals of the UN that should be pursued by Bulgaria too.

Another priority of the IAPBWB is to support women entrepreneurship in Bulgaria, including through high tech solutions.

Which projects are you working on at present?

Nina Noeva:

The Association works on a number of projects. Some of them are under the original program "Gender@Network Resources", which is an entirely innovative solution for Bulgaria. It unites several projects in the sphere of empowerment of women. We continue our work on the project " The Glass Ceiling in Bulgaria", which studies the problem of the vertical gender discrimination.

What is the place of women in business? Is there discrimination?

Nina Noeva:

Women have proven their qualities and potential. In this respect, I think that they have to take the place they deserve in business. There is a wrong perception in our country that women in business and in managerial positions have no problems. I already mentioned that we are working on a project, which analyses the vertical gender discrimination.

Are there "women" sectors in the economy?

Nina Noeva:

Principally, there are certain industrial sectors where women are more engaged as labor force. I do not think, however, that there are "women sectors" in the economy and it is also not necessary. Business is one for all. The problem is that women and men face different challenges.

You created the Web site Anticorruption online. Do you think that Internet provides an effective medium for discussions in this area and generally?

Nina Noeva:

This website is practically the first and only in the world anticorruption web platform for discussion of these problems, created by women’s organization.  According to us, Internet and the new technologies are an extremely powerful medium that should be adequately used for solution of this and other problems in society.

How do businesswomen in Bulgaria assess the business environment in the country?

Nina Noeva:

Our assessment of the business environment in Bulgaria coincides with the one of the international structures working in this field. Along with the positive developments, there are a number of problems that need to be solved in order to establish a better business environment in Bulgaria. I would emphasize some of them, for example improvement of the communication infrastructure in the country. This is extremely important for the foreign investor as well as for the Bulgarian business as a whole. Another accent is acceleration of administrative reform that must lead to simplifying the procedures for doing business. An important problem is the protection of the creditor’s rights. The access to credit for the small and medium-sized businesses is still a problem in Bulgaria, especially in the countryside. Last but not least is the qualification of the labor force according to the contemporary requirements.