Mentoring and Networking promoting Female Entrepreneurship KVINNER SOM VÅGER Fredrikstad, Norway 18.11.2014 Tuulikki Juusela, Managing Director WomCo Ltd
Jul 07, 2015
Mentoring and Networking promoting Female Entrepreneurship
KVINNER SOM VÅGERFredrikstad, Norway 18.11.2014
Tuulikki Juusela, Managing DirectorWomCo Ltd
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 thousandtimes more obstacles and difficulties in her path
than her male colleagues”- statement byMinna Canth from the 1880s
Some historical remarks
Beijing Platform for Action adopted by all189 countries at the UN Fourth
World Conference on Women in1995 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
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
EMPOWERMENT
Empowerment means that people -both women and men – can take controlover their lives: set their own agendas,
gain skills (or have their own skillsand knowledge recognized), increaseself-confidence, solve problems, and
develop self-reliance. It is both a processand an outcome.
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
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 formore than 75 million jobs and over 80% of employment in
certain sectors, such as textiles,construction and furniture.
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
Goal setting is a must
SpecificMeasurableChallenging
RealisticTime-limited
Action-orientedGetting heard
Looking and acting the partFocusing on the big picture
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?
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
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.
Women´s Enterprise Agency, Finland
Courses on entrepreneurshipStart-Up counselling
Info sessionsShort notes and sessions
Networking eventsBusiness mentoring
State funding
Networking is a prime component
In the future, information is powerThe 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
Give and get information
Networking is a two-way streetA 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.
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
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!)
Networking is a life skill
Give without expectationsDo 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 liveBelieve in the universal law of reciprocity, they know what you
give out comes back ten fold
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
To become successful
Network-seize every opportunityBe visible-develop contacts and resources
Develop your skills- skills inventory, specialization, new skills
Have a plan- re-evaluate alsoKeep up with the times-trends in the economy and
in your industryGo online-power of Internet, access to knowledge
Do your homework-identify companies with policies for women
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 maleBe personable- peers can influence a career
Keep your eyes on your goal-stay focused, admit to the mistake, move on
“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.
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
THANK YOU