Four innovation agencies, the Hungarian Design Terminal, the German Spinlab, the Estonian Technopol and the Czech DEX Innovation Centre, will launch their joint pan-European initiative on March 8, on International Women's Day. The main goal of the program is to make way for female entrepreneurs on the continent.
The Womenture program, which runs until January 2025, would strengthen female entrepreneurship on two platforms. On the one hand, from October 2023, those who would like to start a business or develop their existing company can apply for the mentoring leg of the program from any country in Europe. Womenture experts will strengthen them with targeted professional mentoring. The mentoring program starts with 20 participants.
In the meantime, the partner organizations expect the best European ideas from agencies, institutions and various stakeholders concerned about the success of women's innovation programs. Participants can even improve the before-mentioned data with their user experience, expertise, and best practices.
"Womenture is an international programme on which we are cooperating with Hungary, Estonia and Germany. We want to support interesting startups that are founded and built by women or are represented in the management of these companies. We want to support women innovators and are actively looking for "female" start-ups. We open the door for promising projects to partners in the European ecosystem. It is an excellent opportunity to support your business, gain additional experience and move to a higher level with your business and personal growth," says Lenka Hanušová, Communication Manager at DEX Innovation Centre (DEX IC), which has 10 years of experience in supporting and accelerating startups at the pan-European level.
Female-founded startups have to take much more effort to prove they are as worthy as companies founded by men. This hinders them from dealing with the equally important issues that are essential for running the business. Womenture aims to take this burden off the shoulders of female entrepreneurs. And by improving the trends, the entire European innovation ecosystem can develop, not just the female part of it.
Follow the Womenture initiative if:
Europe needs more and stronger female businesses – this is the interest of the continent’s entire innovation space and also the business sector. A new initiative, called Womenture, helps European female entrepreneurs through joint forces, best practices and mentoring. The kick-off of the program was timed for International Women's Day (8 March) by the consortium leader Design Terminal (HU) and its partner organizations SpinLab - The HHL Accelerator (DE), Tehnopol (EE) and DEX Innovation Centre (CZ).
Female entrepreneurs are underrepresented in the innovation scene across Europe. Even various types of research tell us that female company managers and founders are essential for success: according to McKinsey & Co, for example, companies with both male and female managers have a 21% greater chance of being profitable. However, European data are depressing.
THE ROAD FOR WOMEN IS BUMPIER
According to an article by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology published last August, only 21 % of the continent's businesses were founded by women, and only 2.5 % of startups with multiple founders were entirely created by women.
The comprehensive report prepared by the venture capital investment company Atomico does not lack astonishing data either. According to their 2022 survey, 87% of all VC funding in Europe was obtained by all-male teams, while the proportion of funding received by all-female startups has decreased from 3% to 1% since 2018. Of course, we can be less surprised if we look at the fact that inequality is also present in the investor scene: for every 6 male decision-makers in the VC field there is only 1 female one.
It’s high time to change trends!
WOMENTURE: DOUBLE HELP FOR FEMALE BUSINESSES
Link to the Womenture website.
“Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.”
If you have any questions about the programme, please feel free to contact us - lenka.hanusova@dex-ic.com
