The inspiration for the YFEP project is the ongoing EU challenge of enhancing the entrepreneurial spirit of young women, increasing business creation rates and providing alternative pathways of employability and, most of all, young women’s personal fulfillment. The challenges that women identify in starting a business include discouraging social/cultural attitudes, lower entrepreneurship skills, smaller and less effective entrepreneurial networks, and policy frameworks that discourage women’s entrepreneurship. Instruments traditionally used to address these barriers (training and grants) have often had limited success and need to be better calibrated to the target group’s needs.
The YFEP approach aims at offering young women the motivation to start a business (alone or with others) through an all-in-one program made of online content and tools, workshops, group activities, multi-mentor support. These tools will increase the participants’ knowledge on entrepreneurship and sustainable management, helping them gain more confidence.
The partners will select female professionals with different specializations (finance, marketing, sales, HR management, Business plan writing, business planning, time management…) who will share their expertise with the participants and the existing links to potential clients and suppliers. The aim is to create a fully functioning and structured support network with the participants.
Output
IO1: a guidebook and tools to be used by young women with a business idea and the motivation to implement it
IO2:a protocol to engage stakeholders and specialists and motivate them in supporting the young participants
IO3: a manual for specialists and experts (women in particular) willing to learn mentoring and coaching techniques
Partners
FUNDACJA AUTOKREACJA/ AUTOKREACJA FOUNDATION (Poland)
THE NEST SOCIAL COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE (Greece)
SEAL CYPRUS (Cyprus)
MV INTERNATIONAL (Italy)
AREGAI TERRE DI BENESSERE ASSOCIAZIONE CULTURALE (Italy)
WEST LOTHIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE LIMITED (United Kingdom)
