Business Owner: The Goal is to Empower Asylum-Seeking Women in Serbia

Katarina Ejdus (Photo: PrintScreen YouTube)

The founder of the social enterprise and fashion brand "Women on the Road," Katarina Ejdus, said to a BETA journalist on Oct. 30 that her goal was to employ female refugees who had applied for asylum in Serbia, offering to them an opportunity to earn money and develop their creativity, explaining though that social entrepreneurship, by nature, was not financially sustainable.

At this point, the Ukrainian women living in the refugee reception center in Vranje work in the enterprise established three years ago, sewing women's clothing and bags, and making jewelry. Half of the profit each product makes goes to them, and the rest of the money is reinvested into production.

“Our goal, and our mission, is to economically empower the women in Serbia who are attempting to integrate through the asylum process, but have no employment opportunities. These are mostly women living in camps, whose daily lives are quite empty while they wait for their applications for asylum to be processed. We have positioned ourselves as their channel through which they can earn something,” said Ejdus.

The Law on Social Entrepreneurship was passed in 2022, defining this type of business as the performance of activities of general interest to create new and innovative solutions for social problems, individual issues, or those affecting socially vulnerable groups. Estimates by the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) say that Serbia is home to approximately 500 enterprises operating upon the principles of social entrepreneurship.