WOMEX project

WOMEX project

May 2025 – July 2029

WOMEX – The role of women in the competitiveness of exporting SMEs is a European project financed by the Interreg Europe programme, supported by European Union.

The Association of Business Women in Serbia started the implementation of activities in May 2025. The project will last 4 years, until July 2029.

The project aims to support female entrepreneurs who want to internationalize their business, focusing on assessing the current situation in partner countries in order to improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises owned by women. At the same time, it strives to encourage a change in business culture in the EU regions so that the competitiveness and sustainable growth of export-oriented SMEs would be unthinkable without equal opportunities for women, thereby responding to the long-standing problem of their limited access to the benefits of international trade.

Although the EU regions are focused on strengthening the competitiveness and long-term growth of SMEs, additional measures are needed to introduce gender equality into public policies, which would increase productivity, employment and overall prosperity. WOMEX responds to these challenges through the development of a catalog of best practices, which partners create based on the results of regional research on gender bias in export SMEs, as well as through customized support tools. Partner countries face common challenges: gender bias in
exporting SMEs has a negative impact on the economy and society, public policies rarely offer concrete measures to correct this
inequalities, and the gender perspective is poorly represented in business strategies. EU regions have a key role in changing this situation,
through the implementation of gender equality in public policies that encourage competitiveness and sustainable growth of exporting SMEs. At the same time, WOMEX offers a catalog of services for business and women owners of exporting SMEs, with a special focus on support in financing, training and digitization. These measures, along with public advocacy initiatives, will contribute to socio-economic development and strengthening of business ecosystems.

The consortium consists of 9 partners from 6 countries: Catalan Agency for Business Competitiveness (Spain), Marshal’s Office of the Mazovian Voivodship in Warsaw (Poland), Association of Business Women in Serbia, Basque Trade & Investment (Spain), Mazovia Development Agency (Poland), Innovation Agency (Lithuania), Austria Wirtschaftsservice (Austria), Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Pécs-Baranya (CCIPB) (Hungary), Regional Agency for Development and European Integration Belgrade (Serbia).

See more about the WOMEX project and the Interreg Europe program HERE.