Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship and Gender Equality in the Workplace

Description

Women Entrepreneurship in Crete is at 26.5%, while in Greece it is at 24.5%. Unemployment of women (16, 2%) is higher than that of men (10%), especially during the COVID period it doubled. Women and men are at the same level of economic literacy. However, 45% of men and 35% of women believe that women are less suitable for managing their finances. Women are often in the spectrum of "invisible work", taking care of the household, or it is almost assumed that they will be caregivers in the elderly, or work in companies under the name of their husband, so without them being visible, ie to be insured. At the same time, they often feel prejudiced because of their gender and are confronted with stereotypes and prejudices such as: "Women are not good at math", "a woman should look after her home and her children", "business is not a place for women "and much more. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, reducing the gender gap in the EU will create 10,000,000 jobs and increase GDP by 3.15 trillion by 2050!

The Non Profit Organization Women Do Business started the first pilot activities in May 2019 till today. WDB offers a modern and holistic approach based in 4 pillars:

Empowerment
Education through training, webinars
Mentoring,
Networking

Based on their experience they came to the conclusion that it;s not enough for a woman to obtain technical skills such as how to create a business plan in order to start a business but she will require all 4 pillars - steps to feel empowered and start something on her own.

The Unique Selling Point of WDB is that the whole initiative started in the Region , on an island and that emphasizes in remote areas.

The Organization acts for Human Rights and against any form of Discrimination, supports unemployed women and guide women to find the worklife balance, includes volunteering and as a result there is active citizenship and gives value to Life Long Learning.

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Impact on Society

The quantitative data for 2021 are:

1378 women benefited from their participation in the actions;
8 new enterprises were created through the Programmes of Women Do Business;
78,5% of them declare to have become more self-confident;
81,1% mention developing the ability to implement a business idea;
89,7% feel like they belong in a supportive community;
55 Workshops & Events for the Empowerment, Education and Development of Personal and Entrepreneurial Skills;
3 Academies (of 3 months & of 1 year) for Self Defense, Empowerment and Entrepreneurship.

Initiative Location

Region of Crete, other Regions and the whole of Greece.

Working with Organization

One of the values of the Organization, which is also a priority, is "cooperation", as it states that "we are open to new collaborations and believe that only with synergies can we move forward."

Thus, in 2021 the Organization has concluded 44 collaborations with Bodies, Civil Society organizations, Institutions, Companies at the level of Corporate Social Responsibility and at the level of training of company staff and experts (specialized partners). The following collaborations are mentioned: Region of Crete, Heraklion Chamber of Commerce, Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Alpha Bank, 3E Coca-Cola Cola, Hondos Center, Unilever, Vodafone Foundation, Desmos Foundation, Higgs, Mexox Acto KALO Women Association, Intermo KALO , i4You, Association of Members of Women's Associations, Super Markets Chalkiadakis, ICC International Chamber of Women of Greece, AFI Microcredit and others.

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Workers Participation

The Organization is supported by a group of 78 people of which 2 are employees. Women Do Business has developed a remarkable Voluntary Program employing 35 volunteers from all over Greece (Chalkidiki, Thessaloniki, Trikala, Ioannina, Rhodes, Athens, Crete) in different Departments such as: 1) HR, 2) Project Management, 3) Fundraising, 4) Social Media, 5) Events, 6) Coordinating -Virtual Assistance. By dint of the volunteer team that is the backbone of the Organization, all actions towards women are supported. The ages of the volunteers are 20-45 + and great emphasis is given to the development of their skills, their development as well as to their training through seminars by institutions and specialized partners. Many volunteers state that through their experience in the Organization they have managed to find a job or gain promotion and a position of responsibility in their work!

At the same time, there is cooperation with almost all Universities for the reception of students through Internships in areas such as IT support, Articles, Research Assistant, and others.

An important part of the work of the Organization is the network of associates and mentors (40 people) consisting of specialized associates, professionals in their field (Psychologists, Business Coaches, Gender Equality Experts, Consultants, Accountants, Lawyers, Digital Marketers), in Greece and abroad , who voluntarily offer their services, knowledge and time, in individual meetings with the beneficiaries or in educational programs in order to support the work of the Organization.

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Benefits for Οrganization

Distinction in a competition for Incubator of HIGGS (the only body in Greece that trains Organizations), in which the Organization won the 5th place among 85 Civil Society Organizations with a scholarship, and thus for 2 years it is trained on how to produce the greatest social value.

- Distinction and selection of the Vodafone Foundation in the World Of Difference Competition, where the organization was selected among 100 other applications and Organizations, in the 10 winners throughout Greece, with the aim of creating an online platform for Social Entrepreneurs (www.koinonikoepixeiro.eu)

- Distinguishment in the competition of the DESMOS Foundation in the Program "Desmos for Youth", at the national level, where it financed a job for 1 year and was given the opportunity to employ a young unemployed person who was already a volunteer in the Organization.

- Through all the actions WDB gained valuable experience in short period in order to plan high quality trainings and programs or women.

- In addition, WDB build it’s credibility as an Organization, through the actions duric pandemic and as a result companies such as Coca-Cola and Alpha Bank collaborate with them.

- It is important to say that because of networking they became well known and so they build a community of women and men that support their vision all over Greece.

- As a long term goal, WDB realized the need of the first co-working space in Greece for pregnants, moms and children.

- WDB managed to build a fundraising Plan in order to be sustainable and continue it’s work for women by maximizing every channel such as European funds, Institutions, CSR, Sponsorships, membership or t-shirt collection).

SOCIETY

TOPIC:

Initiative

Promoting Women’s Entrepreneurship and Gender Equality in the Workplace

Women Do Business

Objective Action

Target Audience

Duration