Iran gov’t promotes female entrepreneurship
During the global economic crisis, while many developed countries were struggling with the tremendous problem of unemployment, the government of the late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi was zeroing in on employment to further its goal of serving the people.
The salience of the government’s approach on this matter stems its two targets of facilitating stable businesses and family-oriented businesses. This is due to the fact that in the design of a sustainable family-oriented business network, the job seeker, while undertaking the necessary training and support, takes on a job whose sustainability is guaranteed and monitored by the entrepreneur for at least four years.
On the other hand, the woman working in such a network carries out her work in a flexible way, fitting in her home responsibilities and playing a part in a family-oriented role, while also making use of the capabilities of other family members.
In this network, home businesses and value-creating small businesses were expanded through the use of the capacity of the Omid Entrepreneurship Fund under the previous government. What is more, female heads of households, abused women, self-supporting girls, and job-seeking graduates were employed in 239 categories as the target community.
Additionally, more than 7,000 female entrepreneurs and job seekers were trained in home-based jobs through the use of facilities approved during the late president’s provincial visits.
In another aspect of this network, the plan for economic empowerment of female heads of households and backing for women entrepreneurs was carried out for women leading households and unmarried girls over 45 years of age, resulting in the training of upwards of 4,500 individuals in 209 categories.
Tapping into the capacity of non-governmental organizations to generate employment for the target group of women who are heads of households, self-supporting, recovering addicts, or disabled across 15 categories opened up over 400 job fields as a result of the previous government’s efforts.
The government’s backing for the establishment and growth of women’s cooperative companies in tandem with Iran’s Ministry of Labor, Cooperatives, and Social Welfare unlocked job prospects for female heads of households as well.
Furthermore, collaborations with the aforementioned ministry in setting up and growing cooperative businesses led by disabled women across 34 categories unlocked job opportunities for this target demographic.
Harnessing the potential of the country’s Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology by way of holding job training and skill-building events for female students stands as another achievement of this network.
Additionally, collaborations with the Ministry of Agriculture towards providing training in healthy crop production and establishing health gardens, with a focus on empowering local communities, culminated in over 18,000 person-hours of training for women under president Raisi’s government.