DIGI Women Project Was Closed with Presentation of Curriculum for the Training of Digital Experts and Women Entrepreneurs

On 13 October 2022, a final event was held in the Large Conference Hall of the UNWE on the Curriculum for Building Digital Competencies in Women Entrepreneurs and Recommendations for Its Implementation in the Training Practices of Digital Experts and Organizations Supporting Women Entrepreneurship, organized within the project DIGI Women – Digital Entrepreneurship Tools and Support for Women Entrepreneurs, co-financed by the EU Erasmus+ Programme.

Dr. Milena Angelova, mmember of the European Economic and Social Committee and SME ambassador for Bulgaria, the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, Iva Vladimirova, founder of the Business in High Heels Women Entrepreneurship Network, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kostadin Kolarov, Director of the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Coordinator of the project by the UNWE /from the left to the right/

The objectives of the event were to present the curriculum for the training of digital experts and women entrepreneurs and recommendations for its implementation in the training practices of digital experts and organizations supporting women's entrepreneurship as well as the presentation of Women's Business Almanac of the Business in High Heels Women Entrepreneurship Network – associated project partner.

The original innovative Curriculum and the Report with recommendations for its application in practice are the two intellectual products created within the project with the joint efforts of organizations with complementary competences from seven countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, and Ukraine.

The coordinator of the project is the UNWE.

The event was opened by the Rector of UNWE Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov.

Dr. Milena Angelova, member of the European Economic and Social Committee and SME ambassador for Bulgaria, presented the Committee's opinion on promoting female entrepreneurship as one of the tools for achieving gender equality.

The closing event was attended by female entrepreneurs, digital experts, representatives of associations and unions whose activities are aimed at supporting female entrepreneurship, including the development of digital skills among female entrepreneurs. The event was also attended by pupils from the National High School in Finance and Business – future students and entrepreneurs.

In an online format, the project partners participated, who shared their experience in creating the Curriculum and the specifics of its application in their countries – Dr. Ria Aerts and Mr. Alberto Maistrello /Consulenza Direzionale di Paolo Zaramella, Italy/, Dr. Zane Zeibote and Dr. Vera Komarova /Cluster Experts Baltic Sea Region, Latvia/, Prof. Igor Kononenko and Prof. Marina Grinchenko /National Technical University «Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute», Ukraine/.

Ms. Iva Vladimirova, founder of the Business in High Heels Women Entrepreneurship Network, presented the Women's Business Almanac and shared the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the process of digitizing their business. An original approach was adopted in the presentation of the Almanac – each woman entrepreneur whose business is included in the Almanac and who participates in the event, to share her own entrepreneurial journey. In sharing their stories, the women entrepreneurs also gave very valuable guidance to the students – future entrepreneurs.

In summary of the event, the need to acquire and continuously improve knowledge related to the application of digital tools in entrepreneurial activity was confirmed as a key mechanism for establishing women entrepreneurs as equal and even superior competitors to men.

The issues that remain to be resolved with the joint efforts of all stakeholders - women entrepreneurs, digital experts, supporting organizations, government institutions and educational institutions – are finding the appropriate forms of resource back up for the implementation of the Curriculum in a way that makes knowledge accessible to the most a wide range of women entrepreneurs, incl. those whose enterprises are in a difficult situation due to the small scale of activity and the adverse impact of the changes in the business environment that we have witnessed in recent months.

About the Project

The overall objective is to develop a training program that will train experts in order to offer trainings and mentorship sessions that are tailored to the needs of the female entrepreneurs digitalizing their business and help them overcome the obstacles they face in the digitalization.

During the development of the Curriculum, the following were taken into account:

• the needs of the women entrepreneurs with extra focus on the needs of women entrepreneurs in difficult circumstances in the different countries.
• the priorities of the women entrepreneurs
• a focus on sustainable development
• a focus on societal inclusiveness
• that the digital skills help to improve other skills that are often listed as being lacked by women entrepreneurs /strategic orientation, networking, look for entrepreneurial opportunities etc./
• that the digital tools can be used to help the internationalization of the women entrepreneurs' businesses
• assist in a better work-life balance.

The overall objective of helping the women entrepreneurs is to increase their income while saving time and money. 

Partners in the project are:

• Consulenza Direzionale di Paolo Zaramella /CDPZ/, Italy
• bit management Beratung GesmbH, Austria
• Greek Association of Women Entrepreneurs – SEGE, Greece
• Cluster Experts Baltic Sea Region – CEBSR, Latvia
• National Technical University «Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute» /NTU KhPI/, Ukraine
• CEPOR SMEs and Entrepreneurship Policy Centre, Croatia
• University of National and World Economy /UNWE/, Bulgaria.