The number of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Azerbaijan has increased by about 74% since 2018, reaching 424,000, Orkhan Mammadov, chairman of the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (KOBIA), said at the Dayag award ceremony, Report informs.
According to him, during this period, the annual value added generated by SMEs rose from 10 billion manats ($5.88 billion) to 21 billion manats ($12.35 billion). "Last year, SME turnover exceeded 48 billion manats ($28.2 billion), accounting for 37% of non-oil and gas turnover," he said.
Mammadov noted that these achievements are based on the consistent and targeted economic policy pursued by President Ilham Aliyev, who continues the development strategy of the National Leader in line with new challenges. Under the president's leadership, entrepreneurship has become one of the key priorities of state policy, supported by broad tax incentives, investment promotion measures and modern support mechanisms.
He also emphasized that the reforms are highly regarded at the international level. "In the Global Innovation Index published in September this year, Azerbaijan ranked second among 139 countries in the ‘Entrepreneurship policy and culture' indicator. At the same time, a survey among companies with foreign capital ranked KOBIA as a leading government body in supporting socio-economic development," he said.
Mammadov added that KOBIA pays special attention to the quality of internal governance, noting that ongoing measures in this area aim to increase entrepreneur satisfaction. He highlighted progress in digitalization, saying that the e-SME House platform has already been launched in beta version, offering entrepreneurs a wide range of electronic services from business planning to development stages. Efforts are also underway to integrate more public services into the platform.
"Azerbaijan stands by its entrepreneurs. This support is consistent, systematic and irreversible. Behind this path is the decisive and far-sighted economic policy of President Ilham Aliyev," Mammadov said, adding that the Dayag award symbolizes KOBIA's role as a reliable partner and support for entrepreneurs on their path of development.