Entrepreneurship is one of the main directions of activity of the TEKWILL project, and through its programs it helps enthusiasts to build profitable businesses, developing innovative solutions. In the 4 years since its launch, TEKWILL has gathered in its activities over 37 thousand participants and provided support for 1063 companies. Thanks to the support offered, the companies attracted over 10 million dollars. The TEKWILL project, founded in 2017, is implemented by the National Association of ICT Companies with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Sweden.

One of the main programs designed by TEKWILL is “Startup Moldova” – a platform for generating, piloting, and implementing new ideas. The program brings together all actors involved in information technology, connecting them to areas of public and private interest in local and global markets.

Maria Nemciuc, Entrepreneurship Program Manager, TEKWILL: “Within the TEKWILL project we are developing the ecosystem of startups that we have formulated in a single identity – “Startup Moldova”- in order to be easily accessed by both beneficiaries on the spot, as well as from the outside. If you are an investor and you want to see what is happening on the Moldovan market and you are going to invest in someone then you access Startup Moldova to find out about the existing startups and to be able to contact them.”

Another project developed by TEKWILL is related to entrepreneurship education, namely “Startup Academy”. This is a program that aims to identify, stimulate, and amplify the innovative and business potential, dedicated to all those interested in the field of IT entrepreneurship, the development of innovative products and services. In addition to the support that entrepreneurs can access within TEKWILL, they also have the advantage of belonging to a community, where they can share information, advice, and experiences.

Irina Covriga, Community Manager, TEKWILL: “The projects I manage belong to the community. Mostly there are weekly or monthly events within the community such as webinars, shared breakfasts, startup clubs. There are projects such as Startup Week, Startup Weekend, Tekwill Ambassadors, Tekwill Travelers, etc.

We learned about the importance of the support we provide several times based on the feedback from the participants, who say that they could only benefit from such free of charge knowledge and access to services and tools within our programs.”

At the same time, TEKWILL offers enthusiasts the opportunity to build startups from scratch through the XY Partners program, using proven business processes and leveraging an extensive entrepreneurial network. Through it, Diana Ivanov created a unique platform in Moldova that connects parents with neighbourhood babysitters.

Diana Ivanov, founder of Kiddo: “My relationship with TEKWILL started from the moment I took the first steps to set up the platform, by participating in the XY accelerator. In addition to the amalgam of

theoretical and practical information, the program was about a lot of quality networking and people who supported me at every stage of the development of the platform and offered me many valuable recommendations.”

TEKWILL is not just a support for IT entrepreneurs, its programs are effective for specialists in various fields, from agriculture and tourism to medicine and finance.

Tudor Darie, director, “Fagura” company: “We are developing a FinTech project that offers the possibility for anyone to have an easy tool for alternative investments or to access financing when they need it. TEKWILL is very open in collaboration with startups and offers everything: the support, the environment you need, even the right rooms to organize certain events.”

In 2020, ATIC expanded entrepreneurial opportunities in Cahul, within the project “EU4Moldova: Startup City Cahul”, implemented with the financial assistance of the European Union in partnership with Sweden. Subsequently, it will offer entrepreneurial support to the enthusiasts from Comrat and Bălți, where the creation of TEKWILL type Centers of Excellence in IT is planned. All this to help businesses grow, capitalize on information technology, attract investment, and provide more jobs at home.

On the fourth anniversary of its activity, the TEKWILL project aims to multiply its entrepreneurial projects and to be closer to people from all regions of Moldova, kicking off “[r]evolution reaches the whole country”.