The research conducted as part of the RE-FEM Erasmus+ project provides insightful information on what difficulties women entrepreneurs faced during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the energy crisis, and how they faced these challenges. Dr. Katalin Oborni, Dr. Orsolya Gergely and Dr. Sanja Popovic published an article about these findings under the title “Digitalizaion as a resilience strategy for women owned SMEs during crises”.
More than six hundred (608) respondents completed the survey from 7 European countries. The collected data provides valuable insights into the experiences and responses of women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery phase after the pandemic, shedding light on their resilience and adaptability in the face of challenges. The cross-country research helps to identify the needs of women entrepreneurs and provide a solid basis for the development of tailor-made activities focusing on innovative and practical solutions to support the up-skilling and resilience of women entrepreneurs. The basic research question was how women entrepreneurs managed to get through and become resilient in times of crises. The focus of our analysis is digitalization: did the rapid digital transition help women entrepreneurs become resilient during turbulent times? Did the practicing of digitalization-based resilience strategies (including remote work, online sales and similar approaches) improve women entrepreneurs’ operational efficiency and strength?
To find out more about the results through our most recent publication, click on this link.