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