• The discussions touched on several key topics, including:
  the gender distribution within Hungarian enterprises and the structural barriers women entrepreneurs continue to face (e.g. financing difficulties, lack of targeted policy frameworks), and the policy and practical interventions planned across the region, such as training programmes, mentorship networks, regional hubs, and dedicated services for women-led businesses.
• For the IMPACTA project, this professional exchange was especially valuable, as our mission is to:
  support vulnerable women in their integration into the labour market, strengthen the role of women entrepreneurs and investors in the field of social innovation, and develop new, transnationally applicable models that can drive long-term change across the Danube Region.

The shared focus of the two projects, women’s economic empowerment, innovation, digital and circular transition, policy dialogue, and system-level awareness raising, clearly highlights the potential for meaningful cooperation.

We believe that the Danube Region can only achieve truly sustainable and inclusive development if the support of women entrepreneurs and innovators is placed at the centre. The meeting provided important professional connections and new perspectives, which we will integrate into the ongoing work of IMPACTA.

IMPACTA is implemented with the support of the Interreg Danube Region Programme, co-funded by the European Union and the Széchényi Programme Office.

Two key contributors to RE-FEM’s online course will be featured during the Talk. Dr. Katalin Oborni, Senior Project Manager at HÉTFA’s Division of International Cooperation, brings extensive academic and project coordination experience. Her expertise in gender equality, women’s leadership, and EU-funded initiatives (including Horizon and Erasmus+) has played a central role in shaping the course content and methodology. Alongside her, Katarína Gavalcová, Head of the International Projects Department at the Slovak Business Agency, will share insights drawn from her work on innovation and digital solutions. As an advocate for women’s engagement in entrepreneurship, her work supports the sustainable growth and global competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Please note that registration is a prerequisite for attending the session. Complete your registration via the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_SRFYNPWEQROS3JC4tUZz8Q

We will upload the recording of the event to the RE-FEM YouTube channel, and will share it via the project’s social media platforms. For getting more information about the previous episodes of the RE-FEM Talks webinar series, visit the news section of the RE-FEM website.

The event brought together professionals relevant to women entrepreneurship, including directors, executives, key decision-makers, public sector representatives involved in relevant policy areas, as well as women entrepreneurs themselves — with the aim of discussing how to better support women entrepreneurs, assess the effectiveness of current policies, and explore potential new initiatives.

The event began with welcoming speeches by Gábor Balás, executive director of HÉTFA Research Institue, and Zsuzsanna Lukács Lakatosné, executive director of SEED Foundation. Katalin Oborni (HÉTFA), the RE-FEM project’s coordinator introduced the project, outlining its main objectives, key initiatives, and results.

The discussions covered five main topics: the impact of invisible work on women entrepreneurs, the specific challenges of rural women entrepreneurs, the opportunities presented by digital transformation, the role of education in supporting women entrepreneurs, and growth and investment from an entrepreneurial perspective. A number of concrete proposals and needs emerged from the dialogues, including more community support, targeted training programmes, mentoring opportunities, stronger public involvement and the promotion of flexible learning.

We would like to thank all participants for their valuable input, which will support the further work of the RE-FEM project. The lessons learned from the World Café events will be used to produce a Final Policy Brief, which will present the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the partner countries and the good practices that support their work. The study will also provide a synthesis of the development proposals made during the World Café events, with policy recommendations to improve the opportunities of women entrepreneurs. For the latest project news, visit the RE-FEM website and social media pages (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram).

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.

RE-FEM: https://refem.eu/

Womenture: https://womenture.eu/

WE.Circular: https://interreg-danube.eu/projects/wecircular

📍 Online Webinar – Register now!

If you want to join, make sure to register to the online webinar through this link.

🎯 Learn how to design projects that support women in overcoming entrepreneurial challenges and boost your project development with insights from international cooperation!

🗓 Date: 17th October 2024

🕒 Time: From 13:00 to 15:00

We kindly request the participation of women entrepreneurs running their own businesses in any of the following countries to fill in our survey:

• Bulgaria,
• Finland,
• Hungary,
• Serbia,
• Slovakia,
• Spain (Andalusia), and
• Romania (Transylvania).

Please feel free to distribute the survey in any of the above-mentioned countries.

The survey results not only will provide us with data for compiling a research report but help us to tailor educational programmes useful for educators supporting women entrepreneurs.

The research result is planned to be published on the RE-FEM project’s website in November 2023. Deadline for filling in the survey is 20 June.

To access the survey, please click on the following link:

Hungary (Hungarian): https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7342559/V-llalkoz-n-k-Magyarorsz-gon-jraindul-s-a-COVID-v-ls-g-ut-n

Romania, Transylvania (Hungarian): https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7355494/N-i-v-llalkoz-k-v-laszok-s-strat-gi-k-kr-zishelyzetben-Erd-ly

Serbia (Serbian): https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7352982/V-llalkoz-n-k-Magyarorsz-gon-jraindul-s-a-COVID-v-ls-g-ut-n-szerb

Slovakia (Slovakian): https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7355007/V-llalkoz-n-k-Magyarorsz-gon-jraindul-s-a-COVID-v-ls-g-ut-n-szlov-k

Bulgaria (Bulgarian): https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7352910/V-llalkoz-n-k-Magyarorsz-gon-jraindul-s-a-COVID-v-ls-g-ut-n-bolg-r

Spain (Spanish): https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7353339/V-llalkoz-n-k-Magyarorsz-gon-jraindul-s-a-COVID-v-ls-g-ut-n-spanyol

Finland (Finnish): https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7355079/V-llalkoz-n-k-Magyarorsz-gon-jraindul-s-a-COVID-v-ls-g-ut-n-finn

Finland (Swedish): https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7355172/V-llalkoz-n-k-Magyarorsz-gon-jraindul-s-a-COVID-v-ls-g-ut-n-sv-d

The main goal of the RESTART project is to develop innovative training solutions and tools to enhance and advance entrepreneurship education and training across the VET ecosystem by addressing the needs shaped by digitalization and climate change.

HETFA will be responsible for the preparation of the RESTART Position Paper & Mainstreaming Guidelines (policy recommendations). This project result aims to amplify and maximise impact of the project at systemic level while deepening and widening its range.

The press release of the project is available here, you can find more information.

For more information, please visit the website of the project or follow it on Facebook.

The aim of the analysis was to assess the impact of measures to support social entrepreneurship. The experts focused on the measures implemented with EU funding in the 2007-2013 programming period and their results and impacts. They also paid particular attention to the evaluation of the progress and results of the 2014-2020 period.

The evaluation assessed the contribution of the funding instruments to the objectives of increasing employment and job creation. The evaluation also assessed the impact of aid on competitiveness, growth, growth potential improvement, investment performance and sustainability. The experts also examined the evolution of corporate governance practices and company balance sheets.

In summary, social enterprises that are supported have great difficulty in remaining competitive in a competitive market while focusing on their social objectives. They face ongoing challenges in building their entrepreneurial footprint, which not only requires a permanent human capital commitment, but also financial investment or significant liquid reserves to sustain and continue operations. The experts suggested the need for continued support for social enterprises, the creation of a legal environment with a clear definition of social enterprises and the development of a certification scheme. The development of a common methodology for measuring the social impact of investments and a long-term strategy to support social entrepreneurship would be beneficial. The development and long-term maintenance of a support framework that builds on each other should also be considered. The experts suggest that a permanent wage subsidy should be available to support the employment objective of social enterprises. Some social enterprises provide transit services for re-integration into the open labour market and funding for this should be secured in the future.

The report entitled “Evaluation of measures supporting social enterprises in Hungary” is available here in Hungarian. The executive summary is available in English as well.

The Final Multiplier Event will be the main event dedicated to raising awareness on the project results and its main achievements with a special view on the Final Study which will not only assess the results and related activities developed during the project but will include policy recommendations.

Therefore, the event will gather:

• Higher Education institutions, already launched or wishing to launch women entrepreneurship support modules,
• Businesses, enterprises, business support organizations wishing to support the empowerment of females,
• National & EU decision makers.

The Final Multiplier Event, which will be held on 12 July 2021, online, is a public and free of charge event. The preliminary agenda will be available soon.

The event was planned to take place in Budapest and hosted by HÉTFA Research Institute, but due to the uncertain situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the partnership decided to hold the event virtually. Fortunately, there are many benefits of online meetings that we can take advantage of, including the unlimited number of places and smart tools! Thus, the ifempower project team invites you to join us on this inspiring day!

The participation is free of charge! Get yourself a seat by filling this registration form now. We count on your participation – join us!

In the meantime, stay tuned for regular updates of our activities at ifempower.eu and by subscribing the newsletter! You can follow us also on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. In case you have any question or idea how to build synergies, do not hesitate to contact us via the project website.

The aim of the evaluation was to provide professional input for the development of further interventions by presenting the results of the development programs, exploring the development opportunities and developing solution proposals, thus contributing to the improvement of the effectiveness of the developments. Based on the evaluation results, proposals were formulated based on the strategic foci and intervention logic of the 2021-2027 programming period, also taking the expected new cohesion policy rules into account.

The subject of the analysis was the interventions of the Economic Development and Innovation Operational Programme (EDIOP, in Hungarian: GINOP) targeting small and medium-sized enterprises, while the evaluation also covered the measures implemented within the EDIOP in the Competitive Central Hungary Operational Program.

As part of the evaluation, HETFA carried out a general evaluation of the domestic SME policy financed from EU funds and examined the contribution of the supported projects to the relevant EU and domestic policy objectives. The responsibilities of HETFA included identifying the problems behind the interventions implemented, outlining the development logic for economic growth and productivity based on the needs of SMEs, and examining certain elements in the context of exploring program-level results and micro-level impacts.

The report entitled “Evaluation of the Hungarian SME support programmes based on effectiveness and institutional aspects” is available here (only in Hungarian).

The Executive Summary of the evaluation report can be accessed here (in English).