IFEMPOWER

2021 Women Entrepreneurship Days
2021-11-19
The results of the ifempower project are going to be presented by HÉTFA’s experts at the local Women’s Entrepreneurship Day in Hungary. We will hold a world café and will participate in a roundtable discussion. You can join our event in person, if you are in Budapest. The program and further details are being posted here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1216839752135761
You can also join the international online #WEDO2021 Virtual Summit to learn from some of the most influential successful women and men who are making a positive impact in the world: https://www.womenseday.org/
Last year the Women Entrepreneurship Day was celebrated in 144 countries empowering 4 billion women worldwide. You can check out a short video summary about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZcy28g3BOw&t=39s

Closure of the Erasmus+ project period
2021-08-31

Boosting Female Entrepreneurship in the Digital Post-Covid Era
2021-07-12 08:00 - 17:00 UTC
The Final Multiplier Event of the ifempower project was held online, on 12 July 2021, attracting 64 participants from 17 countries. The event gathered HE institutions, students, representatives of businesses, enterprises and business support organizations wishing to support the empowerment of females, as well as national & EU decision makers. The meeting had three main goals: to spread information about European Commission initiatives aiming to support women entrepreneurs, to raise awareness about the ifempower project and its outputs and to formulate policy recommendations as well as action steps in order to make entrepreneurship more equal.

What does the European Commission do to support women entrepreneurs?

In her keynote speech, Dana Adriana Puia Morel, PhD, from DG GROW emphasized that the Commission provides support in multiple ways to those female entrepreneurs and would-be-entrepreneurs whose potential have not been fulfilled yet: via the networking tool WEgate – The European Gateway for Women’s entrepreneurship, Entrecomp focusing on entrepreneurship education, the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) helping businesses grow at an international scale, Gender-smart financing promoting investment in companies where female managers or founders are on board, the improvement of digital competences of girls and women via the currently open tender “Enhancing Digital and Entrepreneurial Competences in Girls and Women”, and finally, DigComp – the European Digital Competence Framework helping women to be more proficient in their digital competences. A strong learning component is prevalent in most of these initiatives since learning opportunities can bring out the best of women entrepreneurs, according to Dana Morel.

What has the ifempower project achieved?

Virág Zsár, Senior Grant Advisor at HÉTFA Research Institute and coordinator of the ifempower project, presented the main goals and outputs achieved over the last 3 years. Initially, a research study was carried out in the seven partner countries providing empirical data and a sociological understanding regarding women entrepreneurs, followed by an innovative international curriculum and the corresponding teaching material based on it. The curriculum consists of several courses that can be accomplished besides any major academic studies. A Training methodology for the ifempower Summer and Winter School was also developed. The Online Educational Platform offers a free e-toolkit in various languages to ensure the broadest outreach. A Mentorship Programme was elaborated empowering female students to pursue their business ideas and Female Entrepreneurship Support Points were installed to provide personalized advice.

Attila Bartha, PhD, Associate Professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, presented the outline of the final study and summarized the conclusions of the ifempower study programs piloted at Corvinus and the other three partner universities. Trust building has been a key in working with female students in the mentorship program, since students are not likely to share their business ideas with an unknown person. The COVID situation made personnel encounter impossible, a challenge instructors and mentors had to overcome. The following recommendations were made by prof. Bartha to ensure the sustainability of the ifempower programmes in higher education:

Provide a gender-sensitive education and empowering programs for female students corresponding with the educational profile of the university;
Provide gender-sensitive training for university lecturers to better support and encourage female students by ensuring a safe environment;
More focus should be laid on developing students’ social competencies;
Mentoring needs to be adapted into the university environment and offered within the framework of a course or project week;
The involvement of for-profit sector into mentoring (i.e., multinational firms) is to be considered;
Establish networks with professionally relevant NGOs, i.e., women’s associations; provide information to students about their programmes and events;
Encourage female students to start a business as a team, as it provides more potential to grow in business and more opportunity to generate employment;

Support female students to start new ventures and not stop at the stage of writing business plans – support the concrete steps to launch and follow-up a business idea.

How to channel the project results into policy making at the national and at EU level?

In the second part of the meeting an inspiring roundtable discussion took place, moderated by Eva Merloni, PhD, President and Chief Project Officer of Area Europa and Project manager of WEgate on behalf of ESBA – European Small Business Alliance. Three renowned European experts have been invited for the discussions:
Sanja Popović-Pantić, PhD, Chair of the EEN Women’s Entrepreneurship Sector Group, also representing the Association of Business Women and the Institute Mihajlo Pupin in Serbia, pointed out the main challenges women entrepreneurs are facing: access to finances, access to markets, access to innovation, need for tools to ensure sustainability in the time of crisis and better education related to digitalisation.
Anna Clark, PhD, President of Women@EIT, encouraged networking and following positive role models. Women are still underrepresented in entrepreneurship and in the tech sector, especially in leadership positions. She emphasized that education should be redefined: women should be more involved in formal education within STEM areas, and more funding should be dedicated to support them. The benefits of diversity should be promoted in order to achieve more equality in bigger organisational structures.
Amélie Leclercq, European Women’s Lobby Board member representing BPW (Business & Professional Women) Europe in Belgium and Director of Presechni Tochki eood, stressed that women need to lobby both at individual and at system levels to have more space in the economy. Policy makers’ language needs to be used – key words such as innovation, modernization, digitalization, inclusiveness referring to common priorities – in order to integrate equality objectives into their mission and vision.
The invited experts formulated the following recommendations to boost female entrepreneurship:

Access to markets: large companies are required to pay increased attention to sustainability, including the objective to build a society of equal opportunities (SDG5). The SME sector shall not be developed in parallel but in synergy with this process. NGOs and academia, as intermediators, can enhance such synergies in the private sector.
Regarding corporate tenders the tax policy is a strong tool that can encourage big companies to involve entrepreneurs from vulnerable groups – incl. women entrepreneurs – in their supply chains.
Access to finances shall be improved, especially ensuring support to innovation at the early stage of business development. Existing business incubator and accelerator programs shall be reconsidered in a way to have more diversity in these areas so far dominated by men.
Gender budgeting should be applied by authorities managing public funding, as well as by trade unions and chambers of commerce, aiming to achieve equality between women and men. This method has been successfully implemented in some EU countries and should be extended to more countries.
More gender-related topics should appear in public tenders.
More women evaluators should be involved in assessing public tenders. Tangible data shall be gathered and analysed to advocate women in the overall process, registering the gender of the offeror at the beginning of the tender and of those who finally make the contracts.
Evidence based information shall be brought to the attention of decision makers allowing them to make fair and equal policies. First, the key decision makers and decision making processes need to be identified. Second, data collection shall be systematic to monitor the expenditures of public resources.
The involvement of men is needed in the discussions about how to make things equal for everyone. Due to the overbalance of men in policy making, more attention should be paid to understand their priorities and to link equality objectives to their agendas, using their own statements to push for change. Using the same language is necessary to achieve the target.
One of the best ways to reduce the leadership gap, pay gap, investment gap and pension gap is to involve men more in childcare.
Female role models shall promote their story at local, national and international level. Successful women entrepreneurs should be asked to share about the difficulties and stereotypes they faced on their way to success.
Keep empowering more women, increasing their confidence to pursue their professional endeavours.

At the end of the meeting a World Café discussion took place where the highlights of ifempower outputs were presented and testimonials from project participants were given.

Virág Zsár closed the meeting by thanking the consortium for their valuable contribution to the project that received so far positive feedback from the target groups. Summing up the discussions of the event, she highlighted that cooperation and co-creation are essential in the process of making entrepreneurship more equal. Actions should take place at various levels: at individual level self-confidence and the improvement of competences are to be addressed, while an the system level joint action is needed. If more equality is reached at system level, the necessary finances will be available as well.

Save the date: Online multiplier event of ifempower on 13 April 2021!
2021-04-13 10:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Budapest)
After the successful implementation of the 3rd Multiplier Event held back-to-back to the ifempower Winter School, the ‘Spring edition’ is coming.
The ifempower Spring School is an intensive study program for female students selected at the partner universities: Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary), Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (Romania), Sigmund Freud University (Austria), Bifröst University (Iceland), and from Andalusian universities coordinated by AEFPA (Spain). The week-long program is built up from thematic days. Each consist of a specific topic, a keynote session, a self-awareness-based group discussion, and a small group work, and each days aims to further support the students preparing for a pitch about their business idea.
The 4th Multiplier Event, which will be held on 13 April 2021, from 10 AM to 5 PM (CET), online, is a public and free of charge event organized back-to-back to the ifempower Spring School. The morning session of the event is dedicated to the pitches, during which the students are having 3 minutes to sell their ideas to the audience and the professional jury. Everyone interested in supporting these ideas, or motivated to connect active or wannabe entrepreneurs is warmly welcomed to the first part of the event.
The afternoon session of the 4th Multiplier Event aims to provide a platform for matchmaking (breakout rooms) and online knowledge exchange (roundtable discussion) for entrepreneurship support organizations, business angels, entrepreneurs, experts and other stakeholders.
Check out the agenda here for more details about the sections and speakers!
The event was planned to take place in Miercurea Ciuc and hosted by Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, but due to the uncertain situation caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the partnership decided to hold the event virtually. Fortunately, there are many benefits of online meetings that we can take advantage of, including the unlimited number of places and smart tools! Thus, the ifempower project team invites you to join us on this inspiring day!
The participation is free of charge! Get yourself a seat by filling this registration form now. Join us and learn about great business ideas and our findings on the situation of female entrepreneurs in Europe!
In the meantime, stay tuned for regular updates of our activities at ifempower.eu and by subscribing the newsletter! You can follow us also on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. In case you have any question or idea how to build synergies, do not hesitate to contact us via the project website.

April 2021 Spring School
2021-04-04 - 2021-04-13
After a week of intense work, the ifempower Spring School has successfully ended on 13th April 2021. Originally the training would have been held in Miercurea Ciuc, hosted by the Romanian project partner Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, but due to Covid-19 pandemic it was held online. Based on the lessons learnt from the ifempower Winter School, which also had to be held online, the organizers managed to make the most out of the online format.
ifempower Spring School is a higher education study program for female students selected at the partner universities: Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary), Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (Romania), Sigmund Freud University (Austria). The Spanish project partner, Andalucía Emprende also selected students from Andalusian universities.
This intensive training consisted of thematic days. Each day had a specific theme, which were made-up by a) a session presented by a speaker b) a group discussion based on self-awareness and c) special small-groups work to support the development of business ideas of the students.
After the introduction of the participants and getting to know each other, #Day1 continued with the keynote held by Ms Katalin Czirjék (community builder, public speaker, Founder Transylvanian Women Entrepreneurs) who helped the students to be prepared for their pitch presentations.
#Day2 keynote speech focused on being a woman and doing business, held by Ms Orsolya Gergely (lecturer at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania).
#Day3 keynote speech focused on how to start a business in an ever-changing environment held by Mr Jürgen Raizner (Director of Steinbeis Transfer Center EAST-WEST Joint-Ventures).
Since #Day4-5 were Saturday and Sunday, students received home assignments and started the preparation of their pitches.
#Day6 keynote speech was held by Mr Levente Tánczos (lecturer at Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania) on the benefits of business planning.
The group discussions based on self-awareness were coordinated by MMag. Mariia Lenherr (Psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud University) and Ms Erzsébet Fanni Tóth (Project manager, Sigmund Freud University). Students were also supported through special small-group work to develop their business ideas. The groups were led by Ms Carmen del Pino Martínez Cáceres (Entrepreneur and business advisor, Andalucía Emprende), Ms Rozália-Klára Bakó (Associate Professor, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania), Ms Roxana-Stefania Boboruta (Project manager, Steinbeis Transfer Management) and Mr Jürgen Raizner.
#Day7 of the Spring School, the 4th Multiplier Event of ifempower project took place. In the frame of the multiplier event students of the Spring School presented their business ideas to the audience and the invited jury. In the frame of the pitches, students could ‘sell’ their ideas and find investors with the help of whom they can start their business.
The members of the Jury, Ms Clara López Pliego (specialist in strategic planning, consultant and manager of innovation projects at Barrabés.biz), Ms Virginie Poncet (senior advisor at Bpifrance) and Ms Ágnes Puskás (economist, international project manager) evaluated the pitches. Students were awarded in the following categories:

Ms Alexandra Lange was awarded for the Best Business Plan (nominated by Andalucía Emprende Foundation);
Ms Ana Zore was awarded for the Best Innovative Idea (Sigmund Freud University);
Ms Petra Kisbán was awarded for the Best Pitch (Corvinus University of Budapest);
Ms Lola Álvarez Botella was awarded for the Best Social Impact (University of Málaga, nominated by Andalucía Emprende Foundation),
Ms Petra Kisbán received the Audience Award (Corvinus University of Budapest).

During the Spring School, students also had the opportunity to take part in wonderful leisure activities: Moonrise band gave a fantastic concert on the evening of Day3, while Ms Pilar Algaba held a fascinating flamenco workshop and performance after the Multiplier Event, and as a closing accord to the Spring School as well. During the lunch breaks of the Spring School, students also received different online workout videos, provided by Ms Esther Berg, Ms Aliz Molnár, Ms Diána Kovács, and Ms Kata Pongrácz, to move their bodies and freshen up their minds.

Save the date: Online multiplier event of ifempower on 4 February 2021!
2021-02-04 10:00 - 17:30 (Europe/Paris)
The third multiplier event of ifempower will be held on 4 February 2021, from 10h to 17.30h CET – online. The event was planned to take place in Stuttgart, but due to the uncertain situation caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the partnership decided to hold the event virtually. Fortunately, we have all learned to adapt to the online circumstances. There are many benefits of online meetings that we can take advantage of, including the unlimited number of places and smart tools! Thus, the ifempower project team invites you to join us on this inspiring day!
The event will be held under the title ‘How does the idea become a business? Matchmaking and knowledge exchange for business angels, female entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs, experts and other stakeholders’. It aims to provide a platform for matchmaking and online knowledge exchange for business angels, entrepreneurs, experts and other stakeholders.
Since the event is part of the week-long ifempower winter school, its main part is the pitch session during which the business ideas of students attending the intensive training will be presented. A professional jury will provide hands-on feedback to the presenters with the aim of supporting their development and turning into real businesses.
Then, the event provides an opportunity for knowledge exchange related to business investment and nurturing marketable business ideas in a frame of a roundtable discussion and break-out session. Ifempower also aims to discover possible synergies among represented projects and initiatives.
You can check out the full agenda here.
We count on your participation – which is free of charge! Get yourself a seat by filling this registration form now, but the latest by 26 January 2021.
Join us and learn about our findings on the situation of female entrepreneurs in Europe – both in normal times and during the COVID-19. Through the elevator pitches and roundtable discussion vivid sessions will come to see the best ifempower entrepreneurial talents and our stakeholders active in investment, business support and nurturing business ideas!
In the meantime, stay tuned for regular updates of our activities at ifempower.eu and by subscribing the newsletter! You can follow us also on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. In case you have any question or idea how to build synergies, do not hesitate to contact us via the project website.

Webinar on "Teaching Online". Friday, March 27th, at 11 GMT (12:00 CET) by Bifröst University
2020-03-27 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/Paris)
This Friday, March 27th, at 11 GMT (12:00 CET) Bifröst University is offering a short online webinar, where the topic is Teaching Online.
Teaching Online can be a challenge, but offers all sorts of opportunities for students and teachers alike. All over the world, we are having to make changes to our daily lives, due to the COVID-19 outbreak. While we are mindful of the uncertainty that our students face, communication and outreach are important. As work and studies continue at our universities, we must quickly adopt new approaches. Bifröst University has offered distance learning programs for over 20 years now.
In a one-hour webinar, we want to invite our colleagues to hear what our teaching and tech support staff can share, in three short segments, followed by a Q&A session. Headline topics are

Teaching Online as a temporary measure
Ways to enrich content and engage students in a Blended Learning environment
Using Virtual Classrooms to allow students to interact remotely
Managing Technical Support and ICT tools available

This Friday, March 27th, at 11 GMT (12:00 CET)
Three teachers who all have 10-20 years of experience of teaching online, in blended or distance learning format for a wide range of subjects

Jón Freyr Jóhannsson, adjunct professor. Subjects: Mathematics, Informatics, Project management
Haraldur Daði Ragnarsson, adjunct professor. Subjects: Strategic Management, Leadership, Marketing
Ragnar Már Vilhjálmsson, adjunct professor. Subjects: Marketing, Consumer Theory, Market Research

And the for management and administration of all programs of Bifröst University, training for Teachers, IT support and more

Dagný Kristinsdóttir, director of academic services
Teitur Erlingsson, director of communications

Access the Webinar through Microsoft Teams. Participation is free of charge, and you are most welcome to share the link with your colleagues who might be interested.
Here is a link to the Webinar

ifempower Workshop: How to Start a Business at SFU Vienna
2020-03-20 08:00 - 2020-03-22 17:00 UTC
📢📢📢 ifempower will organise a free of charge workshop for 20 female students. The workshop will be held in English. 🏆The best 3 students will have the opportunity to be invited for the International Summer School on Female Entrepreneurship🏆 , the summer school is set to take place on August 2020 📢📢
💻 Register yourself before 29 February 2020
Learn more about this empowering event here: http://bit.ly/ifempSFU

The Second Multiplier Event of ifempower
2020-02-05 | Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 4169-005 Porto, R. de Diogo Botelho 1327, Portugal
Come and join us!
Book a place in Porto by filling this registration form by 17 January 2020 !
The event will be held under the title ‘How to nurture the entrepreneurial potential of women? Knowledge exchange & synergies in the field of female entrepreneurship, focusing on successful mentorship and counselling programmes.’ It aims to foster knowledge exchange in the field of mentoring and nurturing entrepreneurial spirit, and discover possible synergies between participants, represented in projects and initiatives.
For more information, please check this release of ifempower!
Kindly contact us should you have any questions.

Closing Date for the Second Multiplier Event of ifempower
2020-01-27
Come and join us!
Book a place in Porto by filling this registration form !
The event will be held under the title ‘How to nurture the entrepreneurial potential of women? Knowledge exchange & synergies in the field of female entrepreneurship, focusing on successful mentorship and counselling programmes.’ It aims to foster knowledge exchange in the field of mentoring and nurturing entrepreneurial spirit, and discover possible synergies between participants, represented in projects and initiatives.
For more information, please check this release of ifempower!
Kindly contact us should you have any questions.

ifempower at the ErasmusDays 2019
2019-10-10
ifempower will be presented at the ErasmusDays event in Budapest, Hungary, on October 10th 2019.
The project, its goals and the achievements so far will be shared. Besides giving an overview about the project’s main aims, the first output will be presented during the event. In the beginning of the strategic partnership with the coordination of HÉTFA the partners made a thorough investigation in seven partner countries on the main hindrances, challenges and strategies of women entrepreneurs. This study (‘Women Entrepreneurs in Europe: motivations, challenges and strategies’) and related series of workshops support the project to elaborate an internationally transferable module for university students from any fields to broaden their knowledge on entrepreneurship related topics and to provide hands-on training for their engagement in self-employment and entrepreneurship. The workshop is planned to be an interactive session for invited stakeholders from all axes of the triple helix to initiate a vivid conversation on the findings of the presented ifempower study (‘Women entrepreneurs in Europe: challenges, strategies and policies’), and possible inputs for the international ifempower module. Therefore, participants will have the chance to reflect to the presentations/best practices, share their experiences, and build network and gather more information about female entrepreneurs. The structure of the event will be as follows: – presentation of ifempower and the study on Women Entrepreneurs in Europe – roundtable discussion: reflections on the presentation – networking with café and snacks Target group: researchers and experts on the field, university professors and teachers, coordinators of incubator houses/mentor systems, representatives of civil society organizations related to female entrepreneurship, representatives of business angel networks, decision makers, representatives of open-minded companies and corporations who are ready to deal with the issue of reintegrating parents, and also (mainly female) university students and motivated women who are willing to enterprise. The event is open to the press/media.
Link for the the event in the ErasmusDays page is available here.

ifempower at FemCities and the Austrian Association of Cities Conference
2019-09-24 08:30 - 17:00 UTC | Rooftop Conference Hall Urania, Uraniastraße 1, Vienna, 1010, Austria
Come and join us!
ifempower will be presented at the FemCities and the Austrian Association of Cities Conference organised by the City of Vienna Women’s Department (MA57) and the Austrian Association of Cities and Towns to be held on the 24th of September 2019 in Vienna.
The goal this time is the exchange of concrete best practices with regard to gender equality both in administration and management (keyword: gender mainstreaming) as well as projects from NGOS or those targeting vulnerable groups.
REGISTRATION: https://www.magwien.gv.at/umfrage/index.php/149611?lang=de
You can also forward the information to interested parties in your network.
More info: http://www.femcities.at/

The First Multiplier Event of ifempower
2019-09-11
Come and join us!
Get yourself a seat in Seville through filling this registration form before 7 June 2019!
In this event, we are inviting experts and stakeholders, active in fields at national or EU levels relevant for female entrepreneurship to present their work through a pitch session. Afterwards, the event will also provide platform to initiate stakeholders’ engagement through a joint brainstorming session. Launching discussion on the developed materials will ensure that recommendations formulated by the preparatory research will be channeled to relevant stakeholders who also become familiar with international module.
For more information, please check this release from ifempower!
Kindly contact us should you have any questions.

ifempower at YES!EUSDR in Bucharest
2019-06-27 - 2019-06-28
Come and share your brilliant minds!
ifempower will be presented at the YES!EUSDR, an official side event organized by the 8th EU Strategy for Danube Region Annual Forum. Share your opinion and thoughts by discussing tools and programs which empower young people to get engaged in entrepreneurship. This event will be held on 27 June 2019 to 28 June 2019 in Bucharest.
The aim of YES!EUSDR is to reinforce the high-level and transversal competences of the Stakeholders and decision makers from education institutions, public administration and private business meet in order to initiate solutions for knowledge based entrepreneurship.
Register yourself: http://suerd.gov.ro/en/the-8th-edition-of-the-annual-forum-of-eusdr/
You are welcome to share this this event for interested parties in your network.
For more information: http://steinbeis-romania.com/yes-eusdr/

ifempower talk at Erasmus+ cooperation projects in Bologna
2019-06-25 - 2019-06-27
Come and talk with us in Bologna!
ifempower is invited to the “Fostering Erasmus+ cooperation projects’ impact and cross-fertilization on social inclusion and civic engagement” event, for a talk in the prestigious event supported by the University of Bologna.
This Transnational Cooperation Activity will be held in Alma Mater Studiorum at the University of Bologna, from 25 June 2019 to 27 June 2019 in Bologna.
Share your stories and opinion with us, by taking part together for the roundtable discussion of “The role of Higher Education in promoting inclusion of disadvantaged categories and reducing inequality”
You can also forward this information to interested parties in your network.
Looking forward to meeting you in the event!

Closing Date for the First Multiplier Event of ifempower
2019-06-10
Come and join us!
Get yourself a seat in Seville through filling this registration form !
The first multiplier event of ifempower will be held on 11 September 2019 in Seville, Spain. The event under the title ‘How to capture the entrepreneurial potential of women? Best practices and possible synergies in the field of entrepreneurship’ aims to discover possible synergies similar projects, activities and initiatives throughout Europe on the one hand; on the other hand, introduces the first achievements of ifempower.
For more information, please check this release of ifempower!
Kindly contact us should you have any questions.

2nd Transnational Meeting
2019-03-20 - 2019-03-21
The 2nd Transnational Meeting will take place in Bifröst, Iceland, hosted by Bifröst University, on the 20th and 21st March 2019.
This meeting will have the aim of analyzing the preparatory research study already developed within the project (Intellectual Output 1) and setting a basis for the upcoming activities to take place in the following months.
