The first Multiplier Event of the ifempower project took place on 11 September, 2019 in Seville, Spain, hosted by Andalucia Emprende. The event attracted more than 50 participants from 11 European countries to present existing initiatives and projects supporting female entrepreneurship in a light of the first results of our project.
This event aimed to attract stakeholders who are working on similar topics to share the outcomes of the first year, to validate them and to initiate the sharing of knowledge and experiences among participants. Accordingly, the background study of ifempower and the recently developed curriculum and teaching material for the international module launched by universities targeting female students were presented first.
Then we opened up the scene and provided the opportunity for the invited guests to present their activities in 3-min long elevator pitches. We had 10 presentations in this section delivered by experts and stakeholders working in the field. As a results, 4 national and regional initiatives and another 3 projects supporting female entrepreneurs we delivered by colleagues coming from Spain, Finland, Iceland, Hungary, Sweden, Austria and Romania. Last but not least, 3 women entrepreneurs provided testimonies and hints how they support their female counterparts in the company management or as sole entrepreneurs.
During the last part of the event, the parallel sessions had place with exciting discussions focusing on two main issues: first, what additional synergies could be taken into consideration for the finalization of the ifempower module; second, what experiences could further enrich the policy recommendations formulated by the background study. Participants had rich discussions pointing out many relevant issues regarding the importance of male-female dialogue for improving the situation of female entrepreneurs, necessity of increased self-confidence of female entrepreneurs (and any females in management position), significance of trusted mentors, etc.
The event ended with a non-formal networking session, enabling participants to learn more about each other’s activities and interests to pave the way for possible future cooperation. The event attracted a huge media coverage thanks to our host partners raising attention on the project ifempower and the issue of female entrepreneurship.
The next open event targeting stakeholders will take place in February in Porto. For more details, stay tuned.
In case you are interested in further details about the project, stay tuned for our regular updates of the activities at ifempower.eu. You may also follow the project on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter!
In case you have any question or idea how to build synergies, do not hesitate to contact us via the project website or internationaloffice@hetfa.hu.