WE EMPOWER: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs to Drive Economic Growth

Good morning, afternoon and evening on my behalf as well!! Happy to be co-faciliating this final discussion as well. I am here as a WEgate community coordinator, working on mobilizing WE eco-system in EU for increased impact on public policies and representing women entrepreneurs' interest at a larger scale (https://wegate.eu/). Looking forward to chatting on the different things we can do to position women as leaders in the heart of recovery.

To kick off the discussion, how can we ensure women leaders are at the forefront of pandemic recovery response and strategies?  

We are seeing success stories where women entrepreneurs are beginning to pool their resources and form collaborative business initiatives

Zoe, are the Vital Voices study findings available to the public?

In terms of capacity building training currently being offered by many orgs to women entrepreneurs, over and above the "traditional" course curricula such as strategic planning, human resources management, branding, marketing etc, the new content that we are seeing a need for, based on recent COVID-19 impact survey responses includes :

• How to fast track to digital innovation
• business continuity planning
• financial crisis management
• making teleworking work
• human resources : rebuilding your team
• identifying market trends and rebuilding consumer trust
• risk mitigation strategies
• diversification of revenue streams

Indeed, building capacities in regards to digital and financial literacy is quite relevant. We have good examples of WE stakeholders organising webinars or online sessions from members to members or together with finance providers. Thus, not only informing women entrepreneurs on the possibilities for financing but moreover giving them concrete support in accessing it. Another thing we are doing in the scope of WEgate is featuring interviews with female entrepreneurs who are thriving in spite of COVID-19, so to motivate and inspire others (https://wegate.eu/success-stories).  

For sure one aspect we need to address is closing the digital gender divide. Another important area is internationalization (access to markets, supply chains, etc.). Women entrepreneurs for instance can use the free services of the Enterprise Europe Network (https://een.ec.europa.eu/) in order to find potential partners from more then 60 countries, participate at (virtual) matchmaking events and seek tailored made assistance (on IP, funding, programmes, etc.). And visit ongoing market places for new market opportunities (https://care-industry-together-against-corona.b2match.io/). 

Sorry Zoe, I've by mistake reported your comment as offensive:) so more digital skills needed for me as well!

Thank you for this discussion, Barbara and Gabriela

It was a real pleasure e-meeting you all, thank you for the discussion Zoe and Barbara! 

Thanks Virginia - this online discussion platform is open  until 5:00 p.m. EST  

We look forward to receiving your feedback and ideas....

Hello everyone, I'm Charlene Lambert with the Women Entrepreneurship Platform in Brussels. The women entrerpeneurship group that I work with in the Netherlands has found this kind of mastermind group meeting online to be a fantastic way of keeping in touch, sharing some important ideas and getting through the crisis. We are organizing these informal meetings in additon to our monthly networking event with a speaker, and our book club. Some are open just for members, and some are open to everyone. Women have a strong need for affiliation, and bringing and keeping us together is important for our success. Thanks to the technology, we can still be in touch with each other.

One thing that I think that we will see over the next 8-12-18 months or more is much less business travel. The rich and robust successes of this online forum, the Chatham House Zoom forum that has been going on at almost the exact same time as this forum, and the Women 20 (W20) virtual policy development process of our Communique, a series of policy briefs, and the beginnings of the advocacy process have convinced me that a great deal of what has in the past "necessitated" business travel can in fact be done more effectively virtually via a mix of video conferencing and online fora.

After the September 11 attacks in the US, my company at the time, TradeBuilders, initiated a series of virtual trade missions -- with the first between the US and Canada, our wonderful sisters from the North.  I think that we are again going to be seeing an explosion in ecommerce (unfortunately, at the expense of traditional retail).  And further, that we will need to do much more with virtual trade missions and international business matchmaking.  I'm interested to know what best practices exist in terms of verfication and validation as to the reliability of international partners when international business travel is not feasible or safe.

Hi Gabriela,

Have enjoyed your comments on this forum.  I am Co-Head of the US delegation to the W20 and Chair the Women's Entrepreneurship Working Group of the W20.  Improving the ecosystem for women's entrepreneurship in G20 countries is a major priority, and I would extremely interested in talking with you further about WEgate.  I'm pretty maxed out this week, but perhaps we could talk via Zoom next week.  My email is vlittlejohn@quantumleapsinc.org -- hope that we can connect soon.  Best, Virginia

Thank you all for joining this discussion. A special thanks to the European Union for their generous support of the WE EMPOWER programme which has enabled us to co-host this discussion. Thanks also to the European Institute for Gender Equality and the Eurogender collaboration platform for being our amazing co-host. 

It has been a beautiful journey this past week as we have seen everyone come together to share resources, best practices and innovative ideas on what is needed to strengthen women’s economic empowerment. We have heard insightful and thought-provoking comments on innovative financial tools, uniting the ecosystem through coordination and collaboration, leveraging digital technology to enhance skills and gender smart entrepreneurship in education as a lever for change and so much more.

We are excited to go through all your comments and build the Advocacy Tool based off of your recommendations and inputs. The Advocacy Tool can be used to strengthen communication with stakeholders to effectively seek the support needed to enhance women’s entrepreneurship among key decision-makers. Please join us on 9 September as we share back the Advocacy Tool - more info can be found here.

Although this is the end of our online discussion we hope this is the beginning of new partnerships and friendships. We continue to invite business leaders to make a commitment to gender equality by signing on to the Women’s Empowerment Principles. The WEPs framework is at the core of the WE EMPOWER – G7 programme and our main platform for change. 

Lastly, we hope to have your feedback on this Online Discussion. Kindly fill out our survey.

On behalf of the WE EMPOWER G7 Team – thank you and hope to see you again on 9 September!