Women

Overview

The European business and entrepreneurship ecosystem is far from being diverse and inclusive. According to the OECD report (2017), women were half as likely as men to be self-employed (9.9% vs. 17.8%), while the share of women who started their own business only increased by 2%. This gap can be explained by deep structural imbalances against female business founders, such as lack of access to finance, low opportunity perception regarding entrepreneurship among women, lack of role models or competing demands on time, with a double burden on home and work responsibilities for women. The Community of Practice for Women meets every month to discuss and learn from the existing best practices and explore new ways how to address these challenges that individual female entrepreneurs face.

Participants

Ludovica Andrialemirovason | Laval Mayenne Technopole

Doris Steinacher | accent

Johanna Rapp | Impact Hub Munich

Margot Kemps | Impact Hub Amsterdam

Gabriela Matouskova | Hope for the Community CIC

Mónika Alíz Mészáros | Intellexi Ltd.

Anusca Adriana | Greek-Catholic Metropolitan Caritas Association, Blaj

Highlights

The pilots linked to the Women CoP were run in 4 countries: Netherlands (9 entrepreneurs), Germany (19 entrepreneurs), France (9 entrepreneurs) and Austria (3 entrepreneurs). The pilot programmes were successful in all participating BSOs. The pilots had very diverse audiences and programmes: from a programme specifically created to support mothers in becoming entrepreneurs (Munich) to a programme focusing on care and mental health for female entrepreneurs (Laval Mayenne Technopole). Generally speaking, drop-out rates in the pilots were close to zero, reflecting a high level of engagement and flexibility from the side of the BSOs, adapting to the specific barriers of this target group, which were linked to lack of time (especially for mothers) and lack of confidence. The first challenge (lack of time), was approached with clear expectations, flexible hours for 1on1 support and childcare, among other things. For example, Impact Hub Munich worked on creating a safe space for the mothers, fostering open rounds so they could inspire each other and start recognizing themselves as entrepreneurs. The trust was also reinforced by the mentors and their flexibility for the 1on1 sessions, as well by the possibility of childcare for whenever they came for a workshop.

The confidence aspect was approached both in terms of content (specific workshops on pitching, posture, pricing, etc.) as well indirectly by paying attention to the examples given in the programme through speakers, mentors and storytelling. For example, Impact Hub Amsterdam invested in telling stories of women participating in the programme and giving more visibility to female entrepreneurs while also paying close attention to whom they were putting on stage as speakers and mentors during the programme. Laval Mayenne Technopole supported through their workshop series how to best support women entrepreneurs who were suffering additional levels of stress and isolation due to the pandemic. Creating a space to come together and listening to each other was an important part of the support offered, project manager Ludovica Andrialemirovason shared. As such, peer-to-peer support was identified as an important building block of support for women in their journey as entrepreneurs.

Generally, BSOs looked to diversify programmes as much as possible. Impact Hub Munich within their specific group of “Mothers” had mothers with and without migrant background and women of different age groups and educational levels. All BSOs agreed that more attention and reflection should still go into the intersectional aspect of empowering women in the entrepreneurial space.

Summarising:

Challenges	Solutions
additional levels of stress and isolation due to the pandemic	creating a space to come together and listening to each other
diversifying programmes as much as possible	more attention and time for reflection into the intersectional aspect of empowering women in the entrepreneurial space
lack of time (especially for mothers) and lack of confidence	high level of engagement and flexibility from the side of the BSOs
lack of time	clear expectations, flexible hours for 1on1 support and childcare
lack of confidence	creating a safe space for the mothers, fostering open rounds so they could inspire each other and start recognizing themselves as entrepreneurs. confidence aspect was approached both in terms of content (specific workshops on pitching, posture, pricing, etc.) as well indirectly by paying attention to the examples given in the programme through speakers, mentors and storytelling