The implementation of RE-FEM consisted of several interlinked activities in order to provide efficient entrepreneurial development for women through research, needs-based, high-quality training materials, e-learning modules and establishing an international network group for all the target groups involved in the project. The project results are the following:
● The partnership first conducted a comparative research to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges women entrepreneurs faced in the post-pandemic era.
● Based on the research results, partners’ expertise and knowledge in developing adult education, the partnership developed an inclusive and accessible Training Manual containing training materials and methodologies, and an Open Education Platform with an online course for training entrepreneurs. The training materials were introduced to the wider public through pilot training and public stakeholder events in all partner countries.
● During the projects lifetime, the partnership lay the foundation for an international network, where women entrepreneurs, associated partners and consortium members had the opportunity to connect, build relationships, and learn from each other.
● RE-FEM formulated policy recommendations to define directions for adult education, entrepreneurship, and the labour market to support women entrepreneurs in building and managing resilient businesses in the age of digital transformation. The recommendations are summarised in the RE-FEM ‘Policy Study’.

We provide a detailed overview of the results achieved during the final six months of the project in our final newsletter, which is available to the public by clicking here. Articles about the main milestones reached within the project can be accessed by clicking here.

The event opened with a warm welcome from Francisco Javier González Navarro, General Director of Entrepreneurship Promotion and Continuous Training at the Regional Government of Andalusia, who highlighted the importance of initiatives like RE-FEM in strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This was followed by an insightful presentation from Dr. Katalin Oborni, Senior Project Manager at HETFA Research Institute, who offered an overview of RE-FEM’s journey and shared its main results and key achievements. Nadia Calviño, the President of the European Investment Bank Group greeted the participants. In her inspiring speech, Nadia Calviño highlighted that empowering women is not only a matter of fairness but also a catalyst for driving progress, stability and prosperity.

Veronika Blizman Servilová, Manager of International Activities from the Slovak Business Agency presented the Online Course, a course targeting women entrepreneurs, developed as part of the RE-FEM project. Daniela Kuzmanović, representative of Institute Mihajlo Pupin presented the Final Policy Study. This Final Policy Study (FPS) is a key and final result of the RE-FEM project. This study provides a comparative overview of the state of women entrepreneurs in seven partner countries (Bulgaria, Spain, Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Finland), showcases good practices, and presents policy recommendations aimed at national and EU-level decision-makers. The study aims to target multiple stakeholder groups. For policymakers, the findings provide an evidence base to inform the design and adaptation of support measures targeting women entrepreneurss. For educators and trainers, the analysis offers insights into training needs and highlights examples of effective practices. Finally, for women entrepreneurs, the documented experiences and solutions emerging from partner countries may serve as a source of both guidance and inspiration.

The series of presentations was concluded by Anna Häggblom (Finland), who gave a Keynote Speech on the role of digitalization and Artificial Intelligence in the field of resilience for women led businesses. The second half of the event featured two roundtable discussions. A detailed report on the roundtable discussions is available at this link.

Following the public closing event, the RE-FEM consortium held its final transnational meeting in Seville. The meeting reviewed the tasks related to the closure of the project, including the objectives and measures that will ensure that the results developed during the project remain available to stakeholders. To keep up to date with news related to the support of women entrepreneurs, we recommend following the RE-FEM social media pages (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram).

The Erasmus+ RE-FEM project – Upskilling pathways for REsiliency in the post-Covid era for FEMale Entrepreneurs is reaching its conclusion with a final multiplier event entitled “Women Entrepreneurs: From Knowledge to Action”. The project is coordinated by HÉTFA Research Institute. The event will take place in Seville on the 1^st of October, 2025, from 10:30 to 13:30 CET, hosted at the Marqueses de La Algaba Palace, D. Rodrigo Room, and can also be joined online via Zoom.

This closing event will bring together policymakers, researchers, business support professionals, and women entrepreneurs to present the key results of the RE-FEM project and to discuss future directions for fostering women’s entrepreneurship. The aim is not only to showcase the achievements of the project, but also to create a platform for dialogue, exchange of good practices, and action-oriented policy discussions.

The event kicks off with a welcome speech by Francisco Javier González Navarro, General Director of Entrepreneurship Promotion and Continuous Training at the Junta de Andalucía, followed by a project overview and presentation of results by Dr. Katalin Oborni, Senior Project Manager at HETFA Research Institute, the project’s coordinating organisation. Participants will also hear a keynote speech by Anna Häggblom, AI Advisor and TEDx Speaker from Finland, on the topic “AI and Women Entrepreneurs: Navigating Emerging Challenges.”

A key highlight of the event will be two round table discussions. The first, held in English and titled “Resilient Futures: Supporting Women Entrepreneurs in Times of Crisis,” will explore the main lessons learned throughout the RE-FEM project regarding support for women entrepreneurs in times of crisis. This session will also present the Final Policy Study of the project. The discussion will be moderated by Sanja Popovic-Pantic, Head of the Science and Technology Policy Research Centre at the Institute Mihajlo Pupin, President of the Association of Business Women in Serbia, and Chair of the EEN Thematic Group on Women’s Entrepreneurship. She will be joined by distinguished panellists such as Gabriela Kostovska Bogoeva, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Foundation for Management and Industrial Research and Vice-Chair of the EEN Thematic Group Women’s Entrepreneurship from North Macedonia; Zsuzsanna Lukács Lakatosné, Deputy State Secretary for the Protection of Enterprises at the Hungarian Ministry of National Economy and former Director of the SEED Foundation, Hungary and Ludwig Stendahl, Business Developer at Connect Norr Västerbotten in Sweden.

The second roundtable discussion, held in Spanish called “Female Entrepreneurship in Andalusia: Real Challenges and Necessary Answers,” will focus on the regional context, bringing together leading institutional representatives, businesswomen, and communication experts to reflect on the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in Andalusia. This discussion will be moderated by Olga Carrión Mancebo, Director of the Andalusian Women’s Institute, and will feature Lorena Garrido Serrano, Deputy Minister of University, Research and Innovation of the Regional Government of Andalusia; Victoria Cabrera de Paredes, CEO and Founder of Agencia Cps, journalist, TV producer and speaker listed among Forbes’ Influential Women in Andalusia in 2024 and Mercedes León Lozano, Managing Director of the Andalusian Council of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Services and Navigation, and a practising lawyer.

The event will conclude with closing remarks, followed by a networking session and farewell drink to encourage further connections among participants.

Registration is available here: http://bit.ly/40Edabd

Join us in Seville or take part online via Zoom to be part of this inspiring discussion on the future of women’s entrepreneurship. Click here to access the agenda.

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).

Dr. Katalin Oborni, Project Manager of the Division for International Cooperation of Hétfa Research Institute, presented the key findings and primary outcomes of the RE-FEM project. The panel discussion ” The Unvarnished Truth – Crises and Coping Strategies” was moderated by Dr. Oborni. After an introductory presentation by Katalin Oborni, the panelists Monika Kontics, Diána Zsivicza, Anita Körmendi and Szilvia Orovicza-Kóré, as well as Melinda Utasi, Hungarian Ambassador of the RE-FEM project, shared their experiences in crisis management and discussed how to involve more actors with decision-making power to support women entrepreneurs. The Hungarian event was opened online by the organiser of the Romanian WED event, Dr. Orsolya Gergely, representing SAPIENTIA Hungarian University of Transylvania, so the two events could be linked for the first time, also virtually. SAPIENTIA’s Ambassador Katalin Czirjék was also a guest at one of the roundtable discussions, where participants shared their experiences as community builders on the power and importance of women’s communities in supporting women entrepreneurs.

Click on the link below to watch Dr. Orsolya Gergely’s welcoming speach: https://fb.watch/wfRSHill5p/

We would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of Women Entrepreneurs’ Day. We would like to thank the organizing team; Kata Keveházi – WED Ambassador, BBU Budapest LAB, Dana Kiss from Design Terminal, Zsuzsanna Zsidai from Womazing.eu, and the Budapest Business University for providing the venue, the speakers and roundtable participants for sharing their experiences and valuable insights, and the participants for actively engaging in the programme and contributing to its success.

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

During the transnational meeting, the consortium overviewed the progress of important deliverables of the project, such as the RE-FEM Training Manual and Online course. The training materials are created to support trainers/educators/mentors to train women entrepreneurs and provide them excellent opportunities to improve their skills and competencies in conducting their business in times of crises, and maintain proper work-life balance. The Online Course targeting women entrepreneurs  will enhance their digital skills, business skills, learning skills, competence in innovation, servitization, personal and professional resilience. Moreover, the consortium dedicated time to the discussion of the upcoming work package, aiming to provide recommendations for national and EU level policy, that stimulates women entrepreneurship and addresses the challenges women entrepreneurs have faced in the post-covid area, with particular attention on women entrepreneurs being in vulnerable situations. Furthermore, the participants discussed the upcoming events, where RE-FEM will be present; these are the European SME week and the Erasmus+ Day. To stay updated about RE-FEM’s activities during these events, make sure to follow the project’s Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn page, and visit our website as well!