GEnerating FeMale SocIal EntrepreNeurshIp

The main aim of the project GEMINI is to promote the social entrepreneurship and digital innovation of young women. In general, women are under-represented at the highest levels of organizations, receiving lower pay and fewer promotions than men. Currently, women constitute the 52% of the total European population, but only 34.4% of the EU selfemployed and 30% of start-up entrepreneurs. In the EU, only 33% of managers were women. Also, women managers in Europe earn less compared to their male peers: when comparing different professions, managers had the largest differences in hourly earnings (23% lower for women). Women face both “glass ceiling” and “sticky floor” problems: whereas the glass ceiling is an obstacle for highly educated women, the sticky floor is a problem for less-educated women. It has been claimed that being more qualified may be a woman’s best hope, although having an education does not necessarily bring women the same benefits that it brings men. According to the EU, female creativity and entrepreneurial potential are an under-exploited source of economic growth and jobs that should be further developed. The main challenges women entrepreneurs face when establishing and running a business are: access to finance, access to information, lack of training, access to networking and reconciling business and family concerns.

The motivation of this project is to facilitate, educate, support and reinforce women in social entrepreneurship and digital innovation, in order to acquire business fundamentals, provide finance and cost management tools in order to face both systemic and personal barriers to accessing capital. The project aims to create an online business accelerator simulator to help them access information regarding social entrepreneurship and a space for idea sharing, brainstorming and access to possible investors.

Project objectives

The main objective of the project is to promote women entrepreneurship since women have great potential to become very good entrepreneurs, as studies have shown that businesses founded by women ultimately deliver higher revenue, even in the negative climate of less investor capital and support.

The aims of GEMINI are:

• to develop women skills and competences in the business field,
• to build up capacities of partners’ organisations in this field,
• to improve the quality and effectiveness of education and training provided to women who are interested in become entrepreneurs,
• to promote equality and equal rights of women in the business field,
• to strengthen creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training,
• to support women developing entrepreneurial ideas through the Business Model Canvas to achieve the goal of running new businesses as a tool of fighting youth women unemployment,
• to create space for sharing knowledge and exchanging experiences & good practices in the field of entrepreneurial learning among non-formal and trainers,
• to stimulate the concept of international and cross-sectoral cooperation in the field of entrepreneurial learning,
• to promote digital innovation in business development and operations.

GEMINI focuses on three main target groups; firstly young women, who want to become social entrepreneurs, secondly to Youth Workers (trainers, facilitators, consultants etc) who train, empower and support youth on entrepreneurial topics. The third group is the already successful women entrepreneurs, whose role must be highlighted in order to provide an inspiration for the new generations. The project, through its activities envisages supporting Youth and Youth Workers on social entrepreneurship by equipping them with skills and knowledge on the topic. Youth Workers are the connection link with a wide network of youth as they work closely with them. Moreover, it expected Youth Workers to have a wider dissemination of the projects aims, goals and results to youth as they come in contact with many and diverse youth groups.

Activities and timetable

1. Kick Off Meeting in Korce (Albania) with 20 participants. The meeting has the purpose of the on hand allocation of responsibilities and timetable revision

2. Mobility of Youth Workers in Thessaloniki (Greece) with 20 participants to train youth workers on how to use the Project methodology for women

3. Mobility of Youth Workers in Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina) with 20 participants to increase the professional competences of the leaders of the partner organizations.

4. Leader’s Meeting in Herceg Novi (Montenegro) with 20 participants to deliver a mid-term project report and design first draft of the handbook of Good Practices.

5. Youth Exchange in Budapest (Hungary) with 20 participants to develop soft skills and raise awareness of youngsters on the topic of the project (social entrepreneurship for women).

6. Conference in Thessaloniki (Greece) with 30 participants to deliver an open conference targeting relevant stakeholders and present them all project results.