Big Interest Among Entrepreneurs to Join the Women Entrepreneurship Club

The promotional event Women Entrepreneurship Empowerment – Where and How Women Founders Can Find support was held on November 20, 2020, in the frames of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. Three speakers presented in front of an audience of around 40 female entrepreneurs and founders of businesses.

The first speaker was Ivana Matic from Croatia– the founder of Women in Adria brand in Croatia, i.e. a web portal whose purpose is to promote and enhance women entrepreneurship, which also involves a membership business model. She also spoke about the cooperation and partnership possibilities for women entrepreneurs in N. Macedonia and Croatia. “Women face specific challenges business-wise, and those can be overcome by other women who have faced the same problems. That is why community is important, because they think in the same manner. The support women provide to each other is irreplaceable. My advice to you is “look for your tribe”.

Katarina Georgivska, owner of ‘Ranco I Vanco na Kata’ – a guest house in the village of Omorani, who develops a rural tourism family business, focused on the entrepreneurial knowledge she gained by attending other CEED trainings. “I can only draw useful conclusions by CEED Macedonia trainings in which I was involved through different projects, because they served as the basic pre-condition for me to realize my dream. (…) There are many barriers, but it is to us to figure out how much we can succeed in overpassing them, as individuals and entrepreneurs”, Katarina pointed.

 

Elena Doneva- co-owner of the creative design studio Kontura elaborated her experience how she upgraded her managerial skills through CEED-designed training, and why she believes being part of a Club of women entrepreneurs and managers is a great possibility for personal professional and business development. She stressed that the peer-learning possibility enables real growth.  “We were two enthusiasts who won a prize and gained money to start our own business and now we are a company of 10 employees and 200 satisfied clients. CEED’s training and live events have brought us many clients and at the same time we upgraded our skills and improved our business. The people who are members in the CEED Club for entrepreneurs are people with the same problems as yours, and I cared for their opinion, because I want to re-examine myself and find a solution. A women entrepreneur means the same problems and a lot more. We need to prove ourselves more, which is also motivating. So, new knowledge, help and support is what moves us forward”.

Elena Hadzi-Pecova and Nikolina Stojanova presented the objectives of the project activities, the details regarding the participation in the project activities and the next steps.

In this sense, we are planning to organize a monthly meeting with the women entrepreneurs who attended the first event and recruit new women founders to join us at the first monthly meeting that is envisaged to serve as a get-together event for future collaboration and networking.