WEgate hosted its 2021 Summit on October 7 in a digital format. The event, whose tagline was “WE are the Next Generation”, was aptly focused on women entrepreneurs at the heart of Europe’s green growth and digital transformation.

This focus translated into an in-depth look into how female entrepreneurs can benefit from the green and digital transformation – leading policymakers, trade associations championing the importance of women entrepreneurship, senior academics with expertise in the sector and women who have led or leading thriving businesses trailblazing the way to a more sustainable future built on a digital foundation joined us.

The event was moderated by Helene Banner, Founder of “Let’s Just Be Imperfect, Ladies”, a mentoring program leading the discussion about how we need to fix what happens above the glass ceiling. She framed the many debates that came together in a day-long narrative of analysis, learning, empowerment, and celebration of female entrepreneurship.

The Summit’s first session, #WEinnovate was opened by Outi Slotboom, Director for Strategy and Economic Analysis in the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission. Her welcome speech set the scene through a broader picture of the strategic action taken by the European Commission to support women entrepreneurs.

The market’s perspective followed on through the speech of David Caro, President of the European Small Business Alliance. He highlighted the importance of women entrepreneurs in our economies as fundamental players that need all the recognition they deserve and full support in overcoming any obstacle they face.

We then delved deep into what WEgate has planned for its community in the near future – a guided preview given by the WEgate Project Manager Eva Merloni. She illustrated some of the new features we are working on and that our community will enjoy when they are launched, chief among which is the new Marketplace for goods and services.

 

It was then time for a proper discussion on the current position of women entrepreneurs in Europe, on what support they receive and what obstacles they face. This theme was the topic of the #WEdebate session: it saw the launch of the results of the WEbarometer2021, an annual pan-European survey taking stock of where women entrepreneurs stand and what they need.

Thomas Cooney, Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Technological University Dublin, Helle Neergaard, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Head of Section at the Department of Management at the Aarhus University, and Alice Martin, Co-founder & COO of Dermanostic, discussed the results.

 

The key findings include the difficulty accessing fundings through institutional channels and a significant preference for finding support through women entrepreneurs’ business associations. These results are deeply connected with a different approach to work-life balance than what is usually expected and reveal the necessity to create a more inclusive European business culture, catering to the needs of and recognising the potential of different approaches to entrepreneurship.

The in-depth debate naturally brought the audience to the following session dedicated to the inspiring stories of women entrepreneurs who have thrived in the green and digital sectors: #WEinspire.

Listening to a panel composed of remarkable businesswomen like Ann Hiatt, Author and Founder of Hypergiant, Eva Diaz, CEO of Appogeo Digital, and Maria Kottari, Founder of The Energy Matrix, was a uniquely motivational opportunity for the many women entrepreneurs among the conference’s audience.

 

A key topic was innovation as the way to commercial success, the role of women in it and how they help define a market shift based on a different approach. The experience of our three helped remarks the main factors, including attracting talent, building a leadership model based on collaboration, supporting diversity, and making sure women’s voices are heard.

The morning concluded with a gathering with the members of the WEgate Community Council during the #WEgrow session for a debate on gender equality in the digital green transition. The roundtable discussed how to create the conditions for women to be agents for a fair transition at work and in private. It was composed by Giulia Sirigu, representative of the WEgate thematic group: Policies & Programmes for Women Entrepreneurship, Simonetta Manfredi, Founding Director of the Centre for Diversity Policy Research and Practice at Oxford Brookes University, Nadine Nembach, International Co-president of the EWMD International and Yvonne Thompson CBE of WinTrade Global. Our moderator was Gabriela Kostovska Bogoeska, Executive Director of the Foundation of Management and Industrial Research, North Macedonia.

The discussion touched on financial support, intersectionality, supporting structures for families and investment culture.

The #WElearn workshops started the afternoon, four workshops with experienced trainers in different fields of interest to businesswomen who wish to start or grow their enterprises: Marco Torregrossa explained how to prepare a presentation of one’s business plan that is apt to attract the interest of investors, Patricia Silva presented an overview of the various opportunities and programs for sustainable investments,  Lilit Asatryan showed the audience how to find a balance between goals, risks and opportunities that leads to the stability of a business and Cristian Frederich gave a crash course in the dos and don’ts of digitally funding a company.

Hubert Gambs, Deputy Director-General in the Directorate-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission, provided the closing address right after the workshops. He focused on women entrepreneurs’ specific entrepreneurial spirit and mindset, unique resources that make them come back from the crisis even more robust.

The event concluded with #WEcelebrate, the WEgate Awards Ceremony. Three outstanding women entrepreneurs won this year:

• Barbara Buades of MEETOPTICS LAB S.L in Spain won the WEgate Nova Award for a newly established business (maximum three years), demonstrating outstanding qualities in setting up and growing a company with socio-economic solid potential.

• Melek Yildiz of Meta Engineering Ltd in Turkey won the WEgate Magna Award for an established business able to demonstrate the successful scale of a company with an innovative socio-economic or environmental approach.

 

 

• Jennifer Woodard of INSIKT INTELLIGENCE in Spain won the WEgate Impulse Award as a champion enhancing the status of Women Entrepreneurs and/or leading an organisation running initiatives or providing services that encourage and support other WE in her community.

We congratulate them and look forward to seeing where their efforts and commitment will take their companies and how they will support women entrepreneurs and the European economy and society.

The WEgate Summit 2021 was a great day celebrating women entrepreneurs, and constellated by the inspiring words of many interesting, successful and innovative women! Join us in Autumn 2022 for the next WEgate Summit!