The document discusses the importance of mentoring and networking in promoting female entrepreneurship, highlighting challenges faced by women and the role of empowerment in achieving economic growth. It emphasizes that women entrepreneurs contribute significantly to job creation and that effective networking can provide vital information and opportunities. Key strategies for success include goal setting, collaboration, and maintaining a positive mindset towards professional development.

1. Mentoring and Networking promoting
Female Entrepreneurship
KVINNER SOM VÅGER
Fredrikstad, Norway 18.11.2014
Tuulikki Juusela, Managing Director
WomCo Ltd

2. So True!
“We are smart, we are hard working and we know we are
doing good work, but we still find all sorts of reasons
for questioning whether we deserve more than we
already have. Women hope the world will figure out
how brilliant they are through their work, when in truth,
it is their job to get the word out."
”Even the most talented woman has a thousand
times more obstacles and difficulties in her path
than her male colleagues”- statement by
Minna Canth from the 1880s

3. Some historical remarks
Beijing Platform for Action adopted by all
189 countries at the UN Fourth
World Conference on Women in
1995 and the Millennium Declaration
adopted by 189 countries in 2000,
contribute to the overarching human
rights framework
6.3. 2014 marked 4 years since the launch of the WEP

4. Womenomics
Refers to women as one of main engines
of growth.
Many economists say that women are
one of the three emerging forces
shaping the 21st century.
The three “Ws”:
Weather, Women and the Web

5. EMPOWERMENT
Empowerment means that people -
both women and men – can take control
over their lives: set their own agendas,
gain skills (or have their own skills
and knowledge recognized), increase
self-confidence, solve problems, and
develop self-reliance. It is both a process
and an outcome.

6. Empowering women and girls
we raise the quality of life for everyone. This is
because when women lead they not only lead
businesses, they lead in their community, they
fight for their children, and they give voice to
issues that are important to our collective future --
like education and health care

7. SMEs in Europe
are the main engine of growth and employment and they
harbour enormous potential for job creation.
There are 23 million SMEs in Europe, accounting for
more than 75 million jobs and over 80% of employment in
certain sectors, such as textiles,
construction and furniture.

8. Women’s Economic Empowerment Through Trade
Women entrepreneurs: worldwide 25-40% of SMEs are owned by
women, on average smaller and lower use of external sources of
capital
Women and Globalisation: trade leads to increased access to
economic opportunities, have correlation between female employment
levels and increases in international trade
Women employers: they employ more people, for example in the US
women business owners employ 35% more people than all the
Fortune 500 companies combined

9. Goal setting is a must
Specific
Measurable
Challenging
Realistic
Time-limited
Action-oriented
Getting heard
Looking and acting the part
Focusing on the big picture

10. Exercise
Think of someone who helped you to develop (or
someone who mentored you in special way)
What were your initial expectations of the person and the
relationship?
Did your expectations start out positive or grow as the
relationship started to succeed?
What were your behaviors that influenced the positive
responses of your partner?
What did this person seem to expect of you? How did
you react to these expectations?

11. Women and Mentoring
it has been said that women in mentoring relationships have
greater job satisfaction than women whitout mentors
a mentor can significantly accelerate a woman’s professional
development compared to that of women whitout mentors
mentors are important in introducing women to the
organization’s power structure, formal and informal.
women may face different problems to men in mentoring
relationships

12. Business Mentor Program (Finland)
The mentors are experienced and successful senior
business managers. Many of them are retired from
their full-time work.
The mentors are willing to offer their own
professional experience and know-how for the
benefit of small local companies and help new
entrepreneurs starting.

13. Women´s Enterprise Agency, Finland
Courses on entrepreneurship
Start-Up counselling
Info sessions
Short notes and sessions
Networking events
Business mentoring
State funding

14. Networking is a prime component
In the future, information is power
The larger your Network, the better your chance of
finding out exactly what you need to know
Knowing whom to call is almost as good as knowing!
Networkers can accumulate influence or power by
control of information and, of course, by learning

15. Give and get information
Networking is a two-way street
A network is not a collection of business cards, but of people.
Take the time to understand the business of those in your
network
Be careful never to burn bridges
I also have seen: rather than focusing on the strengths of
what women offer each other and using them to everyone’s
advantage, efforts to undermine talented coworkers can be
evolved into an all-or-nothing-war-like campaign and a
hostile competition among women.

16. Listen and give
Listen to the people you meet to see how you might
assist them in what they do
Giving first and giving more than receiving is a very
important rule of networking
If one party does all the giving, then the relationship
will not last and the networking ends
Networking relationships takes work and cooperation
by all parties involved

17. What do you get from good network
You'll save money on advertising, since you'll get more business from
referrals.
You'll get more leads, and close deals faster.
You'll develop an "In" with people that can help you get to the profitable
"hard to reach" clients.
You'll develop strong and long lasting business relationships, quickly
and effectively.
You'll build a network of loyal contacts, who will look for ways to send
you new business.
You'll hear about profitable opportunities before they become common
knowledge. (That's an unbeatable edge!)

18. Networking is a life skill
Give without expectations
Do things for others – not to get something back
Have an abundance mentality and with this alone anything is
possible
Believe in making the pie bigger for everyone. They cross
network with competitors and regularly give away referrals
Know that having a poverty mentality, where people came
from fear – fear of sharing ideas of giving information away
freely, is a negative way to live
Believe in the universal law of reciprocity, they know what you
give out comes back ten fold

19. You Can Be Whatever You Want To Be
”There is inside you all of the potential to be whatever you want to
be - all of the energy to do whatever you want to do. Imagine
yourself as you would like to be, doing what you want to do, and
each day, take one step towards your dream. And though at
times it may seem too difficult to continue, hold on to your
dream. One morning you will awake to find that you are the
person you dreamed of - doing what you wanted to do - simply
because you had the courage to believe in your potential and to
hold on to your dream”
by Donna Levine

20. To become successful
Network-seize every opportunity
Be visible-develop contacts and resources
Develop your skills- skills inventory,
specialization, new skills
Have a plan- re-evaluate also
Keep up with the times-trends in the economy and
in your industry
Go online-power of Internet, access to knowledge
Do your homework-identify companies with
policies for women

21. To become successful
Learn the corporate culture -
fundamentals,ask questions
Keep your eyes open-watch, listen, learn
Attend to the home front-support, balancing work
and family
Collect experience-even lateral moves
Get a mentor-female or male
Be personable- peers can influence a career
Keep your eyes on your goal-stay focused, admit
to the mistake, move on

22. “Generation Y”
will move not only among jobs, but also among careers through their
working lives, reinventing themselves many times over;
for them, technology is not a tool but a part of what they are (as shown
by their use of social networking and web 2.0 technologies);
they want challenges and development opportunities from work, but also
choice and flexibility in order to accommodate their personal lives;
they value employers who demonstrate a responsible approach to
society and to environment.

23. Good advice!
”Make no small plans they have no power to
stir the blood"
By our Founder Dr Lena Madesin Phillips
The 3 keys to success
ATTITUDE – AWARENESS – ACTION

24. THANK YOU