Third Stakeholder Meeting Held within the WOMEX Project

Third Stakeholder Meeting Held within the WOMEX Project

27.08.2026

The third stakeholder meeting was held on 26 August 2026 as part of the WOMEX – The Role of Women in the Competitiveness of Exporting SMEs project, implemented with the support of the European Union through the Interreg Europe Programme.

The meeting aimed to identify the key challenges women face when starting, developing and internationalising their businesses through an exchange of experiences and an open discussion with representatives of institutions, organisations supporting entrepreneurship, and women entrepreneurs.

The meeting also provided an opportunity to present the results achieved so far within the project, as well as the upcoming activities. Sonja Manojlović, a member of the project team representing the Regional Agency for Development and European Integration Belgrade, presented the WOMEX project, the activities implemented to date and the next steps.

A special part of the meeting focused on the findings of the research on the position and needs of women in export-oriented micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The research findings were presented by Dragana Panajotović, Executive Director of the Association of Business Women in Serbia, followed by a discussion on the challenges identified and possible ways to address them.

 

Ljiljana Marković, a member of the project team representing the Regional Agency for Development and European Integration Belgrade, presented the activities related to the development of the Employment Programme of the City of Belgrade with an Action Plan. The possibility of using recommendations and proposals developed through the WOMEX project as a contribution to improving this public policy document was also discussed, particularly in relation to support for women in export-oriented SMEs.

The discussion focused on the practical needs of women entrepreneurs who wish to enter foreign markets with their products and services or further develop their existing export activities. Key topics included export financing opportunities, finding business partners and customers, access to international markets, standardisation and certification, professional support and mentoring, promotion, as well as participation in international trade fairs and B2B events abroad.

Participants also had the opportunity to share their experiences with existing support programmes and to highlight the types of support they consider most useful for their day-to-day business operations and the internationalisation of their companies.

The conclusions of the third stakeholder meeting will contribute to further work on identifying concrete support measures for women in export-oriented SMEs. The exchange of views and experiences represents an important step towards connecting the needs of women entrepreneurs with opportunities to improve public policies and support programmes at the local level.