While entrepreneurs and small businesses are the engine of economic growth and job creation globally, across much of Europe and Central Asia, women still face significant barriers to starting and growing their own ventures.
Less than a quarter of the region’s micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises are led by women. Even among established businesses, women entrepreneurs often have less access to the financing, networks, and opportunities that help firms grow.
The result is a missed opportunity for job creation, innovation, and economic growth across the region. The costs of this exclusion are high, preventing women from reaching their full economic and social potential, and stymying countries’ growth and labor markets. Global GDP could increase by an estimated $2.3 trillion if women-owned businesses grew at the same rate as men’s.
That is why the World Bank Group deployed WeVenture, a regional program launched across Armenia, Georgia, and Kazakhstan to help women-led startups strengthen business capabilities, expand networks, and connect with investors and markets. Funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (WeFi), WeVenture attracted strong interest, with 153 high-potential founders selected from a pool of over 470 applicants.
Overcoming the Invisible Barriers to Capital
Before entering the program, many of the founders operated in environments where financing was perceived to be out of reach. WeVenture helped participants to rethink not only how they understood financing, but also how they imagined their businesses could grow. Over several months, participating entrepreneurs worked closely with mentors and industry experts to refine their strategies and prepare to scale.
For Mariam Baghdasaryan, the founder of a food production company outside Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, the shift was fundamental. Actively seeking capital felt intimidating and unfamiliar; investors and banks felt inaccessible, part of a world she hadn’t been invited to.
“I thought asking for capital was almost like begging,” Mariam explained, reflecting on how she had been avoiding conversations about financing. Like many women entrepreneurs, she had limited exposure to investors and financing networks. “Thanks to WeVenture, I understand that asking for capital is a negotiation,” she said. “Investors are also looking for opportunities. That completely changed how I see my business.”
Scaling Across Borders
For other founders, the program helped them to explore how to better leverage technology and build cross-border partnerships and networks.
In Kazakhstan, Marina Boshel manages a company that trains and connects women seeking flexible work schedules — including caregivers and others unable to commit to full-time employment — with beauty salons that rent workstations by the hour. Before WeVenture, much of the matching process was managed manually, a time-intensive process that constrained growth. Through the program, Marina developed an app-based platform that automates those connections, allowing self-employed stylists to quickly identify and book available workstations while helping salon owners fill unused capacity. In its first month alone, the platform connected more than 100 women with income-generating opportunities.
“This allowed us to scale in a way that simply wasn’t possible before,” Marina emphasized. She is now looking to continue developing the online platform and expand its reach.
For others, WeVenture opened markets well beyond their home countries.
Salome Kareli, a founder in Georgia working in sustainable packaging, had already brought together more than 70 companies focused on circular economy solutions. Through mentorship and peer exchanges facilitated by WeVenture, she connected with entrepreneurs across the region and established the Caucasian Circular Economy Alliance, expanding collaboration and market access well beyond Georgia.
read more: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2026/08/06/from-pitch-to-payroll-weventure-helps-women-led-startups-create-jobs
