27 August, 2021

The Erasmus+ funded WeRin Project launched its first bi-annual newsletter called 'Women Entrepreneurship and Education ezine'.

This first issue shows our vision for this exciting 3-year project, begins to introduce key contributors from our ecosystem research consortium, provides some previews of our research that explores women entrepreneurship, gender inclusivity and the inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem. It also spotlights a selection of fascinating women entrepreneurs based in the Netherlands.

Dr. Sue Rossano-Rivera states “Our project title could not be more appropriate – We R in is a statement of intent”. The ezine examines early research work and identifies 5 trends in women entrepreneurship.

• Trend #1: Strengthening of gender inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems
• Trend #2: Opportunity as a driver for female entrepreneurs
• Trend #3: Growing access to grants and financing facilities for female entrepreneurs
• Trend #4: Consolidation of regional networks with the support of higher education institutions
• Trend #5: Creation of mechanisms for encouraging females to develop their start-ups and spin-offs.

Women entrepreneurs as role models is a key target of the project. The current ezine addresses this by shining the spotlight on 2 female entrepreneurs from Amsterdam. These role models show women’s concern to make a difference in their businesses.

Melanie Rieback, CEO, Radically Open Security and entrepreneur says, "I just try to be useful.  Try to leave the world better than you found it". She advises young women entrepreneurs to “Try to find people that you admire, respect, and reach out to them. You might find that they are willing to talk to you, mentor you or maybe just have a cup of coffee and give you some advice.”

Social entrepreneur and CEO, Marian Spier believes “Everything is possible” and she points to funding barriers for female entrepreneurs with growth aspirations with only 0.8% of start-ups and only 11 women entrepreneurs raising funding over €1 million in the Netherlands.

This shows the WeRin consortium that there is still much to do for a fully gender inclusive ecosystem.

Currently, the WeRin partners are actively analysing a large amount of data from ecosystem interviews and working on the 6 country reports with first drafts due towards the end of September.

Watch this space!

The ezine can be downloaded by clicking here or on the project website at https://werinproject.eu/e-zine/

To learn more about WeRin, visit the European Projects section of our website.