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Women Entrepreneurship Portal
On this page:
One of the findings of the project "Promoting Entrepreneurship amongst women" carried out by the European Commission was that networking and access to information for women entrepreneurs should be further promoted. As a follow-up to this project, the Commission has set up this portal on EUROPA specifically devoted to the promotion of women's entrepreneurship.
This women's entrepreneurship portal aims at providing links to the websites of women entrepreneurs' representative organisations, networks, projects and events that relate to the promotion of female entrepreneurship.
Should you wish to include your organisation, network, project or information about an event in this portal, please read carefully the "Guidelines" 
[37 KB] and contact the European Commission at the following address: entr-portal-women-entrepreneurs@ec.europa.eu.
Should you wish to establish a link to this portal or any webpage on EUROPA from your website, please follow the indications How to create links to EUROPA.
National organisations of women entrepreneurs
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Name of organisation or association |
Logo |
Description |
Language and link to Website |
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Comitato Impresa Donna CNA Emilia Romagna (Committee of Enterprising Women) Italy |
Italian regional organisation representing women entrepreneurs of the Emilia Romagna region who are members of CNA (Confederazione Nazionale dell'Artigianato - National Confederation of Craft, Small and Medium Enterprises) |
Italian (English only on homepage) |
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Confartigianato Donne Impresa - Associazione Artigiani della Provincia di Vicenza Italy |
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This is the female entrepreneurs group within the Crafts and SME Association of Vicenza Province in Italy |
Italian |
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Enterprising Women United Kingdom |
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Enterprising Women is a dynamic community of women starting and growing businesses in the East of England. |
English |
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Federatie Zakenvrouwen (Federation of Women Entrepreneurs) Netherlands |
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Federatie Zakenvrouwen is a Dutch organisation of women entrepreneurs and co-entrepreneurs |
Dutch |
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Federación Española de Mujeres Empresarias, de Negocios y Profesionales (FEMENP) Spanish Federation of Female Entrepreneurs, Business and Professional Women - Spain |
FEMENP offers a multitude of services to female entrepreneurs, business and professional women. These services include counseling for start-ups and financing, information and training, national and international relations and networks |
Spanish |
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FCEM - France (Femmes Chefs d'Entreprises Mondiales - World Women Entrepreneurs) |
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FCEM-France has four missions:
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French |
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Frau in der Wirtschaft (Women in Business) Austria |
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Woman in Business is the contact partner within the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber for 100,000 female entrepreneurs in Austria |
German |
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LIDERE (LEADER) Latvia |
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Lidere is a Latvian non-governmental organisation which puts together women entrepreneurs and leaders in their professional area |
Latvian English |
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MAWRED ("Modernising & Activating Women's Role in Economic Development") Syria |
MAWRED is an NGO dedicated to enhancing the capabilities of Syrian businesswomen |
Arabic English |
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Organización de mujeres empresarias y gerencia activa (OMEGA) Spain |
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OMEGA, created in 1989, is a national Spanish federation of professional women and women entrepreneurs regional and local organisations. |
Spanish |
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"Terziario Donna CONFCOMMERCIO" Italy |
Terziario Donna is an Italian non profit association representing 350,000 women entrepreneurs in commerce, tourism and services sectors. It is present in 102 Italian cities through "Sportello Donna" and offers consulting services for start-up of new enterprises and for problems concerning the women workforce. |
Italian |
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Türkiye Kadın Girişimciler Derneği (KAGİDER) Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey Turkey |
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KAGIDER was chartered in September 2002 as a non-profit and non-governmental organization, by 37 prominent Turkish female entrepreneurs. Today we have 142 members from various sectors, including textile, communication, human resources, tourism, chemicals, mining and health. |
Turkish and English |
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WEETU (Women's Employment Enterprise and Training Unit) United Kingdom |
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WEETU is an independent Norfolk based organisation which helps women succeed in work and enterprise. |
English |
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Yrittajanaisten Keskusliitto ry - The Central Association of Women Entrepreneurs Finland |
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Finnish for some parts also Swedish and English |
International organisations of women entrepreneurs
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Name of organisation or association |
Logo |
Description |
Language and link to Website |
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Eurochambres Women Network (EWN) |
The Eurochambres Women Network addresses all European Chambers' women and women professionals. Its purpose is to support women professionals regarding a.o. the exchange of information and dissemination of "Best practices", the participation in public-private partnerships on local, national and European level. |
English |
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FEM - Female Europeans of Medium and Small Enterprises |
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Umbrella Organisation representing 35 associations of women entrepreneurs from 9 European countries |
English, French, Italian, Spanish |
Networks Promoting women's entrepreneurship
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Name of organisation or association |
Logo |
Description |
Language and link to Website |
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AFAEMME Association of Organisation of Mediterranean Businesswomen |
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It is an European and Mediterranean Platform of Businesswomen Organisations composed by a total of twenty-five Associations Members located throughout all Mediterranean from Spain to Syria, passing through Morocco, Algeria, France, Italy, Croatia, Albania, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. |
English |
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FemStart Fostering the public debate on university support of female scientists to start a business Germany, |
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Very few female students consider starting a business after university as a career path. FemStart debates in Germany, Spain, Poland, Latvia, Bucharest and The Netherlands will look at specific measures which encourage women in science to choose entrepreneurship and will discuss how entrepreneurship support structures in universities might be optimised to reach their full potential by encouraging more women to think about an entrepreneurial career. |
English |
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IMPRESS NETWORK International network for entrepreneurial women United Kingdom |
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Founded by successful business women to 'inform, educate & reciprocate' - Impress Network was designed to guide you through the whole process of achieving professional and personal success. You will find tips on business and marketing, sales and PR, as well as help on dealing with psychological and health issues. |
English |
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PROWESS ("Promoting Women's Enterprise Support Services") United Kingdom |
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PROWESS is a UK-wide advocacy network working towards equal numbers of women and men starting their own business. PROWESS supports members - who work directly with businesses - to develop and improve their services for women. |
English |
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ProWomEn - Promotion of Women Entrepreneurship Europe |
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ProWomEn is an international thematic network. It involves 16 European regions and aims at allowing a comparison of different approaches and an exchange of good practice. The network advances the state of the art of regions to support women to develop their potential in creating innovative ideas and starting their own businesses. |
English, German |
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WENETT Germany, UK (Scotland), Sweden, Poland, Bulgaria |
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Business women and women scientists have a key role to play in the future of regional economies. However, it is vital that these "Women Innovators" gain access to international networks and other like-minded people in Europe. |
English |
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Women Into the Network (WIN) United Kingdom |
Women Into the Network is an initiative which assists the integration of women entrepreneurs, both aspiring and practising, into existing business networks. Open to men and women, this project supports the creation and management of effective businesses by women, through addressing the difficulties of integration in the region's mainstream business networks. |
English |
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Yente (Yente is the programme for development cooperation of the Federatie Zakenvrouwen, Netherlands) Netherlands |
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"Yente" focuses on strengthening female entrepreneurs all over the world through network organisations run by female entrepreneurs. "Yente" aims to improve access to information, funds, (international) markets, partnership as well as participation in decision-making processes. "Yente" plays a facilitating (matchmaking) roll by developing a personal, physical and digital infrastructure where female entrepreneurs and network are able to meet with each other as well as with organisations that can support them. |
English |
Projects Promoting women entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurship
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Name of organisation or association |
Logo |
Description |
Language and link to Website |
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Bundesweite gründerinnenagentur - bga (National agency for women start-ups) Germany |
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The German national agency for women start-ups is the first organisation active nationwide for the support of women business starters or considering starting a new business. The agency's activities are targeted at establishing a women-friendly climate for female business starters and increasing the number of businesses started by women in Germany. The Agency offers information about services for women entrepreneurship all over Germany, in all branches, during start-up, consolidation and succession phases. |
German |
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Euroimpresa Legnano Italy |
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Euroimpresa Legnano is a limited consortium company founded in 1996. Euroimpresa's mission is to activate endogenous resources, promoting development projects supported by resources from various expense centres. Euroimpresa offers assistance and consultancy services to the local communities and SMEs. It has promoted several interventions in West and North Milan aiming at evaluating the efficacy of the instruments for increasing female employment rates, paying attention to adaptability and to self-employment and small entrepreneurship prospects. |
Italian, English (homepage only) |
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Gründerinnenzentrum Steiermark (Female Founders' Center, Styria) Austria |
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The Female Founders' Centre, Styria, is an initiative that supports women in the first years of their own businesses (start-up). Since its foundation end 2002, the Female Founders' Centre, Styria, has established itself as a successful contact point for (potential) female founders and business women. Further efforts are undertaken to develop this centre into a comprehensive "Competence Centre" offering a combination of counselling, coaching, mentoring, qualification, networking and internal and external start-up offices, thus ensuring that women get optimal support on their way to self-employment. |
German |
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INITIATIVE FRAUEN GRÜNDEN (INITIATIVE FEMALE FOUNDERS) Austria |
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Establishing an enterprise is a process of several phases where entrepreneurs go from ideas to preparation, official establishment until being an enterpriser. The further entrepreneurs go in this process, the more information they need. |
German |
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"Integrated Plan - Open Roads to the development of Social Economy" (Heraklion Development Agency) Greece |
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The main aim of the project is the fighting of unemployment and underemployment of vulnerable groups of people in Crete (especially women of low education profile, young people, and people with disabilities), by setting up social enterprises comprising disadvantaged categories, enterprises and entities of the local government. The project is implemented in the Region of Crete, Greece, by a partnership of 22 local social actors named "Active Citizens". |
Greek |
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La plate-forme entreprendre au féminin (Women entrepreneurs' platform) France |
This regional organisation is a product of a project Equal done in the department of the Finistère (Britanny) in France. It proposes a complete training programme to women who want to be entrepreneurs or who are already entrepreneurs. This training includes an original approach (as for example, how to balance professional and personal life), individual mentoring, a women entrepreneurs' network and conferences open to anybody wishing to learn more about women's entrepreneurship, management, etc. |
French |
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MAWRED "Business Incubator" Syria |
Business incubator dedicated to women - is a one of a kind venture in Syria, opened in December 2003. |
Arabic, English |
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Street Cred United Kingdom |
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Quaker Social Action (QSA) has been working to tackle poverty and social exclusion in East London since 1867. Street Cred is a project established in 1999 to encourage women into business and enterprise using micro credit. Street Cred supports women on low incomes put their money making ideas into practise. QSA provides small loans, one to one and group business support, advice, training and networking opportunities. |
English |
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WE-Mentor (Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum) Project partners from: Germany, Belgium, Italy, UK, Romania, Turkey, Israel and India |
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The main objective of the project is to motivate women entrepreneurs to participate in European research projects. WE-Mentor is building on a consortium of 8 Members, 4 "mentors" from EU Member states (Belgium, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) who lead 4 "newcomers" to the topic of integrating women entrepreneurs into European Research (Romania, Turkey, Israel and India). |
English |
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West Midlands Forum for Supporting Women's Enterprise United Kingdom |
The West Midlands Forum for Supporting Women's Enterprise has been established to be a central regional voice, source of information and best practice on gender specific business start-up. The Forum has worked on the development of an Action Plan to support women's enterprise within the Region. It is also working towards mapping the various gender specific business support networks and undertaking a needs analysis exercise with women entrepreneurs. |
English |
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Women entrepreneurship development in Sofia and Vratsa Bulgaria |
The project has provided training to 100 women from Sofia and Vratsa in business planning, marketing plans, SWOT, financial planning. 18 business plans developed by the participants have been evaluated and 12 of them partially funded. A Centre for Women Entrepreneurship has been created in the framework of the project. It provides services for unemployed women willing to start their own business or intending to expand their business. |
Bulgarian, English |
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"Women in Business and in decision-making" (Eurochambres Women Network) Europe |
'Women in Business and in Decision-Making' aims at increasing awareness with Chambers of Commerce and their business members of the benefits of the full inclusion of women in the economy - and the balanced participation and representation of women and men in decision-making processes, and at enhancing the capabilities of the entire European Chamber network to promote the role of women in business and in decision-making via the exchange of best practices. |
English |
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WWFF Frauenservice (Vienna Business Agency Women Enterprise Service) Austria |
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WWFF provides a number of services: first counseling and establishing a business plan, information on financing possibilities, workshops for business starters, internet platforms, as well as mentoring |
German |
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BPW Danube Net Business and Professional Women (BPW) |
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BPW Danube Net is the network for business women in the Danube countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and the Ukraine). |
English More information about BPW: |
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WISE - Women Integration and Skills for Entrepreneurship Co-ordinating organisation: |
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The aim of WISE is to support the needs of women entrepreneurs in the ICT/ICT-supported sector in order to create gender-awareness between all players. Studies conducted at European and national levels showed that there exist women-specific needs that are by no means reflected by the working and business environment. WISE identifies these needs and develops tools and measurements to improve the overall performance of women entrepreneurs. |
English The WISE website provides a summary of the recent Benchmarking report, gives links to self-assessment tools to check your entrepreneurial skills, and lists WISE workshops organised in several countries in Europe: www.ubique.org/wise If you wish to shape the results, we invite you to fill in the questionnaires, available in English, German, Spanish, Polish and Estonian: www.ubique.org/wise/quest.htm |
Events related to women entrepreneurship
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Title of the Event |
Logo |
Date and Place |
Link to website |
Language |
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JUMP - First Forum for Active Women |
Brussels 27 & 28 April 2007. Diamand Center. |
French, Dutch and English |
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FemStart - Universities debate female start-ups |
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Stuttgart, Germany
Valencia, Spain
Wroclaw, Poland 2008 |
German, English Spanish, English Latvian, English, |
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Yrittajanaisten Keskusliitto ry - The Central Association of Women Entrepreneurs- organizes the following event: Naisyrittajyys yli rajojen - Woman Entrepreneurs across Frontiers Finland |
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Jyväskylä, Finland 11/02/04 - 12/02/04 |
Finnish English |
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2nd PROWESS Annual International Conference: "The New Enterprise Equation" United Kingdom |
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Nottingham (UK) 10-11 November 2004 |
English |
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Unternehmerinnentag Conference of Women Business Owners Germany |
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Bochum (Germany) 2 April 2005 |
German English |
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Women in Business Congress and Final Congress of WomEn2FP6 Germany |
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Stuttgart (Germany) 7th April 2006 |
German English |
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Supporting Women Business Starters - European Good Practices Congress Series in 2006 in Germany Germany |
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Stuttgart 26-27/01/06 |
German English |
