Description
The project aims to promote female entrepreneurship in order to improve employability for women of Cadiz and their opportunities of professional development in the short and mid-term, focusing on women with enterprising ideas as well as women who are looking for a professional development opportunity. The main objectives are: - To put in value the entrepreneurship ideas of women from the municipality. - To encourage the exchange of best practices in the field self-employment between women from different countries. The project includes measures to increase awareness, professional training in company creation and management, tutoring and advising, ICT training, analysis and best practice exchange.
Summary of project results
The unemployment rate in Cadiz is among the highest in Spain (35,7%), although and the rate among women is lower than the average (33,7%). It has been observed that women over the age of 40 suffer higher barriers to access the labour market, particularly if they face difficulties to balance their work with their family lives. In this context, the main objective of the project was to increase employability of women in Cadiz through self-employment. Specifically, the project aimed to promote entrepreneurial culture, raising awareness among the local population about the value of female entrepreneurship, provide training for self-employment and promote the exchange of good practices on female self-employment promotion between women of different countries. These sessions included 3 workshops of 4 hours duration each, with the participation of 174 women. The workshops focused on business opportunities, economic subsidies, online shops and personal branding. Afterwards a blended course of 400 hours on business creation and management for women with business ideas was organized. The course focused on topics such as the generation of business ideas, business models, legal forms, plans for starting-up a business (business plan, marketing plan, human resources, investment, financial plan, etc.). Another course of 300 hours was organized on digital skills for university graduated women, including topics such as social media, apps development, web analytics, SEO, and marketing plans. This course had 39 participants and 21 completed it. At the same time, several workshops have been organized (4 hours) about awareness raising of gender equality, measures in companies to promote work-life balance and female empowerment. An acknowledgement has been awarded to the 10 best business plans (out of 23 presented). Project activities are not sustainable by themselves, although their results (training, development of business plans, creation of personal networks and awareness raising) can be considered sustainable after the development of the project. The project can be implemented in other municipalities of Spain.
Summary of bilateral results
The entrepreneurs of these plans have participated in working sessions to exchange good practices in Norway, together with Norwegian entrepreneurs (6 days), including visits to companies. Finally, a working session on cooperation, synergies and collaboration among business women has been organized.