Encouraging Migrant women to seize their Potential and Opportunities in the World of EntRepreneurship

In most parts of Europe, gender and migrant status are two significant challenges migrant women have in seeking employment, establishing a business, pursuing personal goals or even social inclusion. The project consortium, who have vast experience in business and working closely with migrants, decided to create this project, to address these issues. The project partners saw that the integration of the migrant women into the labor market will be beneficial to both the migrant women and the European Union, as this enhances social cohesion, prmotes economic growth and maximizes the benefit of migration. Since migrant women, or women in general, lead houselhold and caregiving roles, there is a connotation that those are the only things they are good at. This is of course wrong. These women just needs adequate exposure, support, development and trainings that will ignite the business side of them- most of the times they don’t know existed- and enhace their entrepreneurial skills and competencies. One more mutual goal was to challenge the notion that entrepreneurship is solely about company management. This is important among disadvantaged groups like migrant women, hindering their empowerment and the ability to take initiative.

Specifically, these goals were set: - Help migrant women discover, understand and enhance their life skills and entrepreneurial competencies better. - Provide tools for migrant women to monitor and assess themselves continuously - Enhance the skills of trainers and coaches in identifying migrant women’s life and entrepreneurial competencies. - Create methods to enhance and develop one’s entrepreneurial competencies - Improve knowledge on how to empower migrant women with caregiving responsibilities to become self-employed or enter entrepreneurship The project partners believed that transnational partnership is a huge benefit to the project as this brings forward each one’s knowledge and experience and have it as a reminder that each country has its own culture and different paractices. Working together across countries was a test to adjust our ideas, taking into account the different cultures involved. This helped them to be more effective by comparing and understanding different situations and beliefs on how to include migrant women in the society.

First on the list is the five transnational meetings planned for the project. All the essential plannings and coordination happened in these meetings. Then there were two training activities held. The first one focused on testing the toolkit for assessment and self-assessment of migrant women’s entrepreneurial competencies. This was well-received by the participants and was commended as fun, informative, motivational and inspiring, overall. The second one was initially intended only for testing the Training Activities Toolkit. But since the partners were able to create 2 more outputs: Collection of Stories and Training Guide in Strengthening Entrepreneurial Competencies, there were also activities carried out related to these two. Again, the participants gave very good feedback. Project partners completed two planned Project Results (1. Portfolio of tools for Assessment and Self-Assessment and 2. Training Activities Toolkit and Guidelines for Trainers). Additionally, Partners also developed 2 more supplementary tools: 1. Collection of Stories/ Case Studies showcasing authentic stories of migrant women and 2. Training Guide in strengthening entrepreneurial competencies. Four multiplier events were carried out at the end of the project to disseminate the project results.

Project results planned were: 1. A portfolio of tools for self-assessment and assessment of life skills, entrepreneurial competences, and learning needs of migrant women, aligned with the European EntreComp Framework. This included comprehensive analysis and testing through interviews, focus groups, and workshops. 2. A toolkit consist of activities for entrepreneurial training of migrant women and guidelines for trainers and social workers. Developed collaboratively, it covered various aspects of entrepreneurship, aiming to empower migrant women and enhance trainers’ skills. But, 3. Along our journey, the consortium recognized the value in sharing authentic stories of migrant women whom we engaged with during the project. So additional outoput- Collection of stories / Case studies was born. Partners believed that these stories could serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for other migrant women. There is a total of 15 compelling narratives, which can now serve as invaluable case studies for other migrant women embarking on or already navigating their entrepreneurial journeys. 4. Additionally, partners also developed a training guide in strengthening entrepreneurial competencies. This training material offers insights into teaching entrepreneurship and proves beneficial for trainers and coaches alike. Topics covered include the business model canvas, the design thinking process & user research, and more.