VOWOCO Volcanoes' Women Co-Creation- Empowering women transitioning into the workforce and revitalizing women entrepreneurs

MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT The main goals of the project are as follows: 1. Empowering women transitioning into the workforce: Supporting women who plan to start a business, change careers, or return to work after maternity leave, particularly those compelled to seek employment due to a lack of flexible working arrangements. 2. Revitalizing women entrepreneurs: Assisting women business owners who are experiencing stagnation in their professional endeavors by providing them with tools and strategies to reignite growth and innovation. 3. Developing women leaders: Enhancing the leadership skills of women managers, with a focus on newly appointed or young female leaders, to foster their growth and success in managerial roles. These objectives aim to address key challenges faced by women in the professional sphere, promoting their development, resilience, and leadership potential. PROPOSED ACTIVITIES, RELATED OUTPUTS The activities are based on the following three pillars: 1. BACKGROUND RESEARCH Comprehensive research - As a first step in the comprehensive research, a focus group study involving 10 successful women entrepreneurs will be carried out in each participating country. The aim of the study is to gather the future proof competencies needed to run a successful business. To produce a summary of the focus group study. Compilation of a questionnaire based on the results of the survey, to be completed by at least 100 people from the target group. We are working with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to complete the questionnaires. The results will be the base of the online learning material. 2.ONLINE LEARNING MATERIAL ON PLATFORM Developing a series of online courses on business start-up and leadership: entrepreneurship, business skills (business planning and controlling), international market access, collaboration, spin-off approach, circular economy, ESG and SDG goals, self-awareness, mental well-being, emotional intelligence and resilience, also skill transfer methods that is learnt in other fields. 3. PILOT - MENTORING PROGRAM Mentoring program - at national level - experienced local entrepreneurs invited to be mentors. The speciality of the mentoring programme is that we create teams of three (3 mentors-6 mentees/partners). An experienced business development professional works with two female entrepreneurs or managers for a period of six months. The main aspect of creating a triple team is that the two mentees come from different backgrounds, business sectors so that a new product or service can be co-created through their collaboration. The desired outcome of each mentored co-creation team is a business plan for an innovative product or service. A crucial point of the mentoring programme is the selection of mentors and effective mentoring process. A strong emphasis should be placed on a broad-minded, experienced person with business, financial and marketing experience. The aim of the project is to develop a methodology and set up a guideline for the selection of mentors and metrics, and mentoring techniques for the pilot groups. These guidelines can serve as a handbook to trigger co-creation enterprises.