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.

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.

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.