Women Entrepreneurship on the verge of ICT
ladybizIT is here to motivate European women, regardless of age and origin, to learn what the European Union Lifelong Learning Programme can do for them, by offering them a personal development advantage and a new career path, through the access and use of available information communication technologies (ICT).
ladybizIT suggests existing EU solutions and means that foster women entrepreneurship; it identifies markets; it provides spotlight trends on the role of women in sustainable economic recovery; it informs on recent experiences and know-how; and, it raises awareness among women on the dynamic process of entrepreneurship in an emerging knowledge-based society.
In brief, ladybizIT encourages women to launch their own sustainable businesses through the use of available ready-to-use ICT tools!
The ultimate goal is to have more informed women on the exiting EU tools and projects, as well as on the current status of women entrepreneurial growth at European level and the opportunities offered that will facilitate them to start up their own business.
It is envisaged that women will gain the advantage of the opportunities provided by ICT tools to pursue entrepreneurship and will increase their entrepreneurship participation rate in the European economy.
Women constitute only 34% of entrepreneurs in the EU and often face greater difficulties than men in starting up a business and accessing finance and training, while it is estimated that women entrepreneurship could be a major source for increasing European level economic growth and competitiveness. Therefore, encouragement of female entrepreneurship growth is a high European priority.
The EC, in the frame of the Small Business Act “Create an environment in which entrepreneurs and family businesses can thrive and entrepreneurship is rewarded”, has already initiated concrete actions aiming to promote women entrepreneurship such as the European Network of Mentors for Women Entrepreneurs, the European Network of Female Entrepreneurship Ambassadors and the European Network to Promote Women’s Entrepreneurship (WES). As such, ladybizIT is a Leonardo da Vinci project and part of the EC effort to support women entrepreneurship and promote how ICT can facilitate women entrepreneurship.
One of the major obstacles for women to take the option of European entrepreneurship is the limited access and use of ICT tools. ladybizIT addresses this need by promoting European projects, representing a great variety of European countries / transnational consortia that could facilitate women entrepreneurship growth and development at European level.
How? ladybizIT builds up a dialogue, through a set of interlinked and complementary dissemination actions that will lead into the European Conference and Show Case to take place in Athens, in 6th November 2012 with the ultimate aim to present the useful results of 12 European projects, mostly LLP.
More specifically, ladybizIT will present 12 projects, already identified and evaluated to meet the quality criteria established by the project expert partnership, that focus on women entrepreneurship and how ICT facilitates and possibly fosters women entrepreneurship.
Thus, the project will:
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Promote Lifelong Learning interventions, specific project outputs, amongst current and future women entrepreneurs;
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Encourage and motivate women, regardless of age and origin, to learn what LLP can do for them, by offering them a personal development advantage and a new career path, through the access and use of available ICT;
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Focus on solutions and means, such as the use of ICT, that foster women entrepreneurship;
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Encourage women to launch their own businesses, identify markets, provide spotlight trends on the role of women in sustainable economic recovery;
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Disseminate and inform on recent experiences and know-how and raise awareness among women on the dynamic process of entrepreneurship in an emerging knowledge-based society;
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Build an informal sustainable network between all the presented projects and the events’ participants of ladybizIT.
After the project women will be more aware of the exiting tools and projects presented, more informed on the current status of women entrepreneurial growth at European level and the opportunities offered that will facilitate them to start up their own business.
ladybizIT will also trigger discussion amongst decision makers, women associations, and lobbyists towards simplifying procedures for potential entrepreneurs to be encouraged and assisted in this field, finding methods of binding ICT and new business start-ups. This will be enhanced by a set of policy recommendations to be targeted to policy makers.
Whose idea was ladybiziT? The project partnership is the ‘best practice’ result of the LLP-LdV Network project “genderIT – Fostering gender mainstreaming in the ICT sector” during which the ladybizIT partners established solid links. More specifically, ladybizIT has been developed by five, experienced and active in women entrepreneurship, partners from Greece and Norway, with the widest possible European dimension as it involves the European Centre for Women and Technology.
For more information visit the website www.gender-it.eu
Partners: