Young women from across Azerbaijan came together in Ganja City for a training on managerial and leadership skills, motivated by their desire to bring their business ideas to life.

This three-day training, made possible by a grant from the Embassy of Lithuania to Counterpart International’s USAID-funded Women’s Participation Program (WPP), focused on leadership skills and self-development, business planning, marketing management, and communication skills.

The culmination of the training was having each participant create a Personal Development Plan that maps out actions (such as attending an advanced English language class) that these women want and plan to take to begin their local businesses.

Bahar Shukurova, a participant in the training, turned her beekeeping hobby into a business and is teaching other women in her community the business skills she learned during the WPP training. Nuriye Nuriyeva started Job Center Ganja which aims to help young community members earn gainful employment. Some turned their art into businesses, including Sona Maharramova, an artist who decided to start selling her paintings, and Elvira Mirzayeva, who opened a perfumery.

The knowledge and skills learned during the workshop helped  the women overcome the barriers that limit their advancement in Azerbaijan and fully realize their entrepreneurial spirit and acumen as business leaders and owners.  

Participant Learning Achievements

The WPP training used a mix of training methods – formal presentations, participant-led discussions, case studies, group work, and self-evaluation tests – so that participants could practice their communication, presentation, and analytical skills.

The pre- and post-test scores demonstrate participants increase in knowledge in key areas.