The Power of 360° Business Skills in Shaping Women Entrepreneurs 

To accelerate the growth of women-owned businesses in our region, we need to create Express Centres for Entrepreneurs—creative, practical, ‘one-stop-shop’ spaces. 

At a recent start-up event, I watched a young woman from a rural town impress a panel with a unique product—impress, that is, up to the point when she was asked about her go-to-market strategy and financial plan. Then, she froze.  

I have seen this frequently as a mentor for women entrepreneurs. There are many talented women who build a strong product yet often struggle with the business fundamentals that transform a prototype into a sustainable venture. 

Over the past two years, I have worked closely as a mentor and jury member with more than 100 women-led start-ups through national and international contests across Central Asia and Eastern Europe. My observations are clear: technical capability is rising, but business skills remain limited. Entrepreneurs frequently lack structured training on how to run a business, and don’t have a diverse professional network. Away from capital-city incubators and networking spaces, the challenge is bigger—no mentors, no workshops, no networks. 

What’s exactly missing? 

In many pitches, the product is not the problem. What’s missing is the explanation of why it matters, what problem it solves, and why customers should care. Even in major cities, many entrepreneurs give the same presentation repeatedly with little improvement. Over time, motivation declines, and they start to believe their business idea isn’t strong enough—without realising the real challenge lies in how the idea is presented, packaged, and communicated. 

Women in rural regions face additional layers of difficulty: fewer opportunities to receive feedback from experts in finance, marketing, or technology. While men often have wider networks, women’s circles tend to be smaller and concentrated in similar fields. This limits access to strategic advice, partnerships, and validation—the essential factors in the early stages of a business. 

This is precisely why practical support systems are needed. 

The regional picture 

Across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, more women are entering entrepreneurship. However, this rise is not yet reflected in leadership roles, funding access, or business sustainability. Across Europe, only one in five ICT specialists is a woman—a figure that hasn’t changed for a long time. In deep tech such as cybersecurity, women account for just 22 per cent of the global workforce. In 2023, women-founded and co-founded start-ups received only 9.6 per cent of Europe’s venture capital, a number unchanged since 2017. 

Azerbaijan shows promising progress: in 2025, women accounted for 21 per cent of entrepreneurs in the ICT sector, and women’s participation in business activities, including trade facilitation reached 100 per cent in 2025, up from 66 per cent in 2023. As of January 2025, women make up 48 per cent of the employed population, with 23 per cent of active individual entrepreneurs.  

These numbers demonstrate that the government is creating favourable conditions for women in business. However, strengthening the entrepreneurial spirit requires more than supporting today’s women founders—it also demands investing in the next generation.  

To make a real difference, companies should use their CSR programmes for the most important needs, like inspiring future innovators in underserved communities. For example, within our Femmes Digitales – Supporting Women in Tech Public Union, we prioritise programmes for educating schoolgirls in rural regions. Over the past 10 years, we have reached more than 1,500 girls through practice sessions in STEM, robotics, and AI. These efforts plant the seeds for long-term inclusion, ensuring that more girls grow up with both the skills and the ambition to enter the tech and entrepreneurship ecosystem.  

Why 360° business skills matter 

To move from I learnt something to I built something and eventually to I am growing a business, entrepreneurs need more than technical skills. According to Harvard Business Review, every professional requires a foundational understanding of project management, financial management, communication, and organisational thinking. This is just as important for business owners. 

A 360° skillset—encompassing marketing, finance, communication, HR basics, and operations—means seeing the whole business as an interconnected system. Without these holistic skills, even the most promising ideas can remain stuck at the prototype stage. 

Solution: Express Centres for Entrepreneurs 

I strongly believe that to accelerate the growth of women-owned businesses, our region needs Express Centres for Entrepreneurs—creative, practical, ‘one-stop-shop’ spaces where founders can receive short, intensive, business-focused support. Support would be equally distributed among participants for creating unique ideas.  

Azerbaijan has shown the way with its successful one-stop-shop public service model, ASAN Xidmət, which provides citizens access to hundreds of services from multiple government agencies in one place. Entrepreneur Express Centres could operate similarly, offering two-three month in-depth programmes that include: hands-on sessions with mentors in business strategy, marketing, finance, and communication; workshops built around real-life challenges: opportunities to refine pitches, validate pricing, and develop early business models; learning to implement AI in business and marketing: networks and peer support, especially for women from rural areas. 

Express programmes and follow-up support over the next eight-nine months would help entrepreneurs move from idea to implementation and sustain motivation. And, most importantly, they would encourage the creation of new businesses by women from rural areas and for women, helping start-ups evolve into fully functioning companies. This, in turn, strengthens local economies and improves economic inclusion across the region. 

Holistic business skills are the missing link. When women entrepreneurs gain access to practical training and supportive networks, ideas become strategies, strategies become growth, and growth becomes long-term economic impact. 

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Author Bio 

Sayyara Huseynova is the Head of Marketing & Communications at B.EST Solutions, the digital identity company behind Asan Imza, Azerbaijan’s national mobile digital signature. She also serves as the Secretary General of Femmes Digitales – Supporting Women in Tech Public Union, where she coordinates national and regional initiatives empowering girls and women in ICT, including mentoring more than 1,000 rural schoolgirls through the STARTECH program. 

With over 10 years of international experience in South Korea, Türkiye, and Azerbaijan, she brings deep expertise in business development, marketing, strategic communications, and digital transformation. She holds a Techno-MBA and a Bachelor’s in Industrial and Systems Engineering from KAIST, Korea’s top science and technology institute. Sayyara was selected as the only mentor from Azerbaijan for the UN Women Entrepreneurship EXPO 2024, where her mentee became the sole representative of Türkiye at the EBAN Congress. In September 2025 she was selected as a mentor for “She’s Next” Hackathon, powered by Visa.  In 2024, she represented Azerbaijan at UNDP’s Investing for Gender Equality and Inclusive Climate Action dialogue in Istanbul. 

In 2024 she served as a judge for the IDDA Awards (an innovation-focused award ceremony), and in 2025 the national Digital Entrepreneurship Competition, organized by the State Committee for Family, Women, and Children’s Affairs of Azerbaijan. She was named “Mentor of the Year” at the Azerbaijan Women in Tech Awards (AWITA) 2024. She is a contributor to UNDP–UNICEF STEM4ALL platform, focusing on digital governance, digital inclusion, and women’s empowerment in technology.  

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