How can I register a company? What are the taxation and insurance procedures and what will my commitments be? How can I get a credit for starting my business? How do I apply for funding under business support programs? Answers to these questions are given in the series of 25 seminars on entrepreneurship training in Silistra region, carried out as part of the Project ‘A Chance for Everyone’ implemented by the Bulgarian MEP Filiz Hyusmenova. The project was submitted by Ms. Hyusmenova to the European Parliament and will be carried out over the course of two months. It is supported by the Political Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), of which Filiz Hyusmenova is a member.

‘A Chance for Everyone’ is oriented towards people from remote settlements with difficult access to information. The goal of the project is to clarify the mechanisms for establishment of a small business and the actual steps towards its development. The project will provide to the attendees an idea about the legal environment for setting up a company, the financial and accounting requirements for organizing and reporting of economic activities, about the bank services, as well as about the state policy for encouraging start-up businesses.

Under the leadership of the project coordinator Nikolay Kolev, lawyers and economists, credit specialists from the banks in the region, accountants working with corporate clients, representatives of Agriculture Fund and the Employment Office will work directly with the participants and will support their ideas. ‘This is a project aimed at encouraging the individual potential of every person for its successful implementation by creating equal conditions and equal opportunities,’ explained the idea behind the project Filiz Hyusmenova. Since within the European Parliament the latter works also at the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality and is a member of the High-Level Group on Gender Equality, she would like to see more women participating in the project. The share of women involved in entrepreneurship in the EU is only 30%. They often face more difficulties in starting up their business and in accessing funding and training. That is why the measures outlined in the Road Map for Gender Equality in Europe 2006 – 2010 envisage encouragement for the small business through ensuring a better access to funding and development of entrepreneurial networks. In one of its resolutions the EP calls on to the Member States to implement concrete strategies for stimulating the entrepreneurship among women. Filiz Hyusmenova is determined to apply the project throughout the North-eastern Bulgaria if it shows good results.