Thematic Group Women entrepreneurship

One third of entrepreneurs worldwide are women. However, multiple and intersectional
challenges limit their business prospects, from obtaining finance to networking. To mitigate
these obstacles, EEN helps women entrepreneurs start and run successful businesses through
establishing TG Women Entrepreneurship, representing powerful engine for the introduction
of gender sensitive policies throughout the industrial ecosystem.

MEMBERSHIP TG Women Entrepreneurship (TG WE) at a glance:

TG WE’s 133 members* come
from business support
organizations, mostly Chambers
of Commerce, in which they are
committed to the local / regional
/ national development of
women entrepreneurship
thorough Councils of Women
entrepreneurship and other
similar bodies.
(*January 2024)
TG Women Entrepreneurship is a key Enterprise Europe Network support
tool for women business leaders. It enables female-led companies to grow
and become recognized as key contributors to the economic growth of the
Single market and beyond. Its wide geographical coverage and multi-sector
perspective enables it to assist women from an extensive selection of
industries, from textile and fashion, agrifood and services to digital, tourism
and other more “typical” female sectors.
TG WE works closely with other expert groups – in particular sector groups
- to mainstream women entrepreneurship topics into the Network’s
activities. The group also developed partnerships with business support
networks such as EBAN, WEgate.

It worked to raise the Network’s international visibility through the EEN

blog here or here. and the European Commission’s LinkedIn page.It was
also featured in 2023 at the EUSAIR conference “Strong Women for A
Stronger Adriatic-Ionian Region” and in the Horizon Europe project Policy
Answers project’s newsletter. TG WE also linked up with Erasmus Plus
projects REFEM and WINNOVATORS at the TG’s 2023 meeting in
Brussels, raising its visibility in these projects’ communitites.

TG WE organises training and events with other SG/TG and external

stakeholders, such as a pilot learning pitching event which enabled two
female companies to get financing. TG WE also publishes a “3 minutes pitch e-catalogue” compiling the
most successful business profiles of female EEN clients, already in its third edition. WG group access to
finance organized a. WG Communication created the TG’s Facebook page and LinkedIn profile.

In 2024, TG WE will continue to work with TG Access to finance (TG A2F) and TG Start-ups & Scale-ups to
deliver measurable impact for clients, focusing on further developing the pitching event concept, providing
female clients new opportunities to ask for and attract venture capital and finance.

How are we organised?

TG members can get involved in any TG activities, and they can also join the dedicated Access to finance
and Communication working groups (WG) to contribute more actively to actions focusing on access to
finance and communication respectively.

What does it mean to be a member of TG Women Entrepreneurship?

Being a member of TG Women Entrepreneurship means dedicating oneself to the development of an
economy that leaves no one behind, embracing the concept of social sustainability, and consequently
contributing to responsible economic growth.

Members of the TG group have the opportunity to work with responsive clients, as women entrepreneurs
provide valuable and timely feedback, making collaboration with them a pleasure. Women entrepreneurs are
also eager to build support networks and highly appreciate the services of EEN advisors. This was
particularly evident during the COVID crisis, where our group achieved remarkable results.

Being part of this group offers the chance to sharpen measurable outcomes and adds extra value through
evident progress and satisfaction expressed by your clients, making it easy to craft a compelling success
story with such clients. Group members are expected to demonstrate commitment in the implementation of
the mentioned activities, as well as to contribute to the development and execution of new initiatives in
synergy with other SG/TGs.

Join us if
you don't just 'chase' targets, but genuinely believe in the power and potential of women's entrepreneurship.

Get in touch if
Reach out to our group if you want to collaborate and amplify impact – we're here to foster synergy and drive
collective success.

Find us!
• In CONNECT
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
TG Women Entrepreneurship highlights
Investor pitching events
To help women entrepreneurs in the Network hone their pitching skills and raise funds from investors, the
group organised a pilot pitching event in November 2022. The initiative focused on the digital and green
transition and encouraged female CEOs, (co)-founders and women in leadership roles at start-ups and
scale-ups to apply. Applicants from more established enterprises looking to transform and scale their
services through digital and/or green technologies were also eligible.

The Network’s pitching event, made possible with the help of EISMEA and the European Commission’s
Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), was open to
the Network’s clients operating or interested in the digital space. All applicants had to submit a two-page
summary outlining the business need they address, their respective solutions, their target market size,
their business model, as well as their future goals and investment needs. We received 17 pitches and we
selected 10 from that pool. We invited four additional companies to pitch to give even more entrepreneurs
access to the Network’s expertise. The event revealed a growing demand for this type of hands-on
learning experience’.

Entrepreneurs had the opportunity to get feedback on their pitches from leading experts in finance
support, such as the Network coordinators of the expert groups ‘Access to Finance’ and ‘Scale-up and
Start-ups’ as well as from female business angels. Participants learned, for instance, how to tailor their
investment requests based on their business needs and how to deliver punchy pitches to investors. Our
clients were thrilled with the feedback they got from both business angels and experts. We received
numerous messages of appreciation.

One participant, Andrea Mladin at Pet Travel Advsior company from Serbia shared: ‘I’m thankful for this
experience. I have gained a lot from it and improved my pitch, so much so that now I’m off to the United
States to present my venture’.

‘WEnCoop was thrilled to take part in this event for women entrepreneurs who are making a difference in
the digital and green transition sectors’, said Katerina Gkani from Energy Cooperative WEnCoop in
Greece. ‘The juries gave us tailored advice, helping us refine our storytelling and pitching skills’, she
added.

Elham Hassanzadeh at Arxax, Italy, echoed these views: ‘Arxax greatly benefited from the event. We
were able to hone our pitch delivery and received excellent feedback’. She continued: ‘The event also
provided us with deeper insights into how investors examine a business proposal. Our new pitch was met
with great enthusiasm’. This company finally got the financing after improving its pitch desk, thanks to the
learning experience of the pitching event!

Diana Andritchi at Synaptiq, Romania, added: ‘The event helped us boost our visibility and better
understand the Network’s role and benefits for SMEs and start-ups. I got to practice my pitching skills and
gained confidence in communicating with investors.’