- The event, broadcasted from Brussels, was attended by 200 people.
- The European Commission was present through the Directorate General for Education and Culture (DG EAC) and the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL).
Brussels 8 May 2024. On Tuesday 7 May, the Finnova Foundation’s headquarters in Brussels hosted the event «Building tomorrow’s Europe with today’s women», focused on promoting female entrepreneurship and innovation. The event brought together 200 people, including attendees and participants, who exchanged experiences and entrepreneurial ideas.
The event «Building tomorrow’s Europe with today’s women» marked the closing of the European project Erasmus+ 100 Women Plus, a project carried out by a consortium led by the Finnova Foundation, with the Cabildo of Fuerteventura and the Founders Association as partners.
The day addressed various specific needs of women such as greater support for equity, boosting women’s leadership and entrepreneurship, fostering cultural understanding and, above all, embracing the diversity of women’s entrepreneurship.
The welcome was given by Juanma Revuelta, CEO of Finnova, who explained Finnova’s role in supporting women entrepreneurs through the Womenfortech and Girls4tech initiatives, projects in constant evolution and with a vision for the future of the organisation.
During the inauguration, the president of the Founders Association, Lola Bordás, together with the European project manager of the Finnova Foundation, Carla García, explained the European project Erasmus+ 100 Women Plus and, as a success story of the different actions of the project, the catalogue of female entrepreneurship. This catalogue consists of a compilation of projects led by European and African women with the aim of increasing knowledge about real experiences that facilitate the visibility of the initiatives and, above all, serve as an example and inspiration to other women.
The host of the event, Ermelinda Hajdari, gave way to Elisabeta Katiaj, vice-president of the Albanian Chamber of Commerce of the Diaspora and general director of Porto Romano Consolidation HUB, who presented the network of women in which she collaborates, reaching out to new joint projects.
In the chapter on EU support for employment, inclusion and equality, there was the vision of the acting director general in the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (EMPL) of the European Commission Andriana Sukova, who stressed the importance of inclusion and equality of women in employment, and the promotion of entrepreneurship among women.
The day continued with a panel discussion with Gold Butter co-founder and business coach Wendy Agyin; Fulvia Nannini, Business Angel and Strategic Advisor at Angels for Women (A4W); Lorena Billi, founder of Furt’Her, and Patricia Trejo Zamorano, Head of Communication and Institutional Relations at the Permanent Delegation of the CEOE to the EU, who discussed various approaches to women’s leadership and entrepreneurship.
Finally, policy assistant in the Digital Education unit, Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission (DG EAC) Leonie Bultynck, closed the event with a presentation on the importance of digital skills and the need to address the gender gap in ICT.
About 100 Women Plus
100 Women Plus: Cooperation and understanding to promote women’s entrepreneurship and leadership, co-funded by the EU Erasmus+ programme and led by Finnova, in collaboration with the Cabildo de Fuerteventura and the Asociación Fundadoras, is a project in favour of cooperation and understanding to promote women’s entrepreneurship and leadership.
100 Women Plus, which has been designed to improve the channels of collaboration and dialogue, proposes a series of learning activities, exchange of experiences and transfer of results that will contribute to establish new mechanisms for female participation, strengthen the ecosystem of women entrepreneurs in the participating countries and create networks and generate alliances between institutions.
Access the 100 Women plus catalogue of women entrepreneurs through the following link: https://womenfortech.eu/gallery-of-inspiring-women-and-initiatives
About the Finnova Foundation
Finnova is the Spanish-Belgian non-profit foundation based in Brussels and Spain, which works for the promotion and development of innovation and entrepreneurship in the EU. Finnova’s experience in leading communication and dissemination activities for European projects is combined with a proven track record in business creation and entrepreneurship support programmes, such as accelerators, incubators and events, as well as its commitment to training and employability of young people.