An initiative to promote women in business

Women entrepreneurs create growth, but still there is a great potential for economic development in increasing the number of women-owned businesses and strengthen the existing ones. This is the background of the Swedish government’s initiative Promote Women’s Entrepreneurship, a four year programme with the objectives to increase the numbers of women establishing, operating, taking over and developing companies.

- To have designated resources in order to fully focus on this issue plays an important role in creating a change, says the Programme Manager Gunilla Thorstensson.

It exist a gender gap with respect to new venture creation and business ownership in the European Union, meaning there are less women than men running enterprises. In Sweden for instance 30 percent of the new businesses are started by women and approximately 25 percent of the existing ones are women owned. By increasing the number of women entrepreneurs there is a possibility of higher employment and economic growth. One initiative where these mechanisms are highlighted is the programme Promote Women's Entrepreneurship managed by the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket).

- The programme started in 2007 and aims at providing benefit to women running companies now and make it possible for more women to do so in the future. The overall objective is to increase the visibility of women’s entrepreneurship, says the Programme Manager Gunilla Thorstensson and continues:

- Most resources are focused on making business support and consultation as well as innovation funding more accessible and adapted to women's needs and demands. Basically, we like to contribute in the process of making it easier than it is today for women to be entrepreneurs and run businesses that grows.

Change in ownership and ambassadors

The programme funding is not transferred directly to the companies, instead it is channelled through Tillväxtverket or the County Administrative Boards who funds specific projects. Such projects concern for example the transfer of ownership, where women who want to buy existing companies are supported. Other initiatives are mentoring and highlighting women entrepreneurs as role models. The ambassadors are an example of the latter, where more than 800 women entrepreneur’s works on a non-profit basis to inspire other women to see entrepreneurship as possible career path. This is done through lectures at schools, universities and different events. 

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Mobile Tourist information

The mobile phone's importance in communication with tourists is increasing. It opens up new opportunities for tourist enterprises to reach customers, while tourists easily can access useful information.

- Almost everyone carries their mobile phone with them, so when more services are available both entrepreneurs and visitors can benefit. The mutual value is a key to new ICT-innovations, says Professor Christer Carlsson at Åbo Akademi University.

Presenting tourist information on a website means of course that anyone who seeks the information must have access to a computer with internet connection. One way to give tourists access to useful information during the trip is to offer services over mobile networks, for example internet in the mobile phone through server connections or SMS-services.

Notions of gender in contextual interviews

Within the WP4 data was collected through qualitative interviews conducted 19 entrepreneurs were interviewed: 6 from Estonia, 8 from Finland and 5 from Sweden. Among them were  18 women and 1 man.

The main purpose for the data collection was to receive a perception of how the entrepreneurs consider themselves affected by the gender difference. The aim also was to communicate results with other WPs.

Focus was on the significance the entrepreneurs give gender.