Over 15 formats, 19 speakers and over 200 registrations at the Female Entrepreneurship Week. From 14 to 19 November, the focus was exclusively on female founders. Initiated by the GründungsService of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) and the joint projects Startup Port and beyourpilot, an exclusive and free offer was created for women and founders interested in starting a business.
With the aim of attracting more women to the start-up world, an extensive programme with diverse content, training, role models and opportunities for exchange and networking was offered over six days.
The theme week started on 14 November 2022 with the digital networking event “Female Entrepreneurship WEEK UP!“, followed by Escape Games, the daily Lunch & Learn and many other formats. It will end on 19 November 2022 with the international Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED), which aims to strengthen the visibility and work of women entrepreneurs globally.
Why is there a need for a separate week just for women founders?
“The Female Entrepreneurship Week is our answer to the lack of role models and networking opportunities for female founders. Together with Hamburg’s startup alliances, we initiated an inspiring week with over 15 formats, 19 speakers and over 200 registrations from women* and female founders interested in starting a business. We are already looking forward to FEW 2023!”
Dr Bianca Kauff, Project coordinator at the HAW Hamburg Foundation Service, co-organiser of Female Entrepreneurship Week 2022
“The exchange with other female founders is important to find new ideas and inspiration, but also to feel less alone. It helps against the one or other fear that comes up in the course of the founding process.”
Astrid Docter, Founder ForYou Yoga
Our Top 3 Key Learnings (from Inside Startups: Founders Yoga)
Astrid Docter (Founder of ForYou Yoga) showed in the face-to-face session “Inside Startups: Women Founders Yoga” how important the impact of women in startups is, what drives them personally and why relaxation is so important in the start-up process.
“For me, the start-up process is a journey with many exciting experiences, you have to be able and allowed to make mistakes. My motivation to all female founders: Just do it, try it out and dare! If it goes wrong, remember this little story of a founder who said: “My first start-up I did so badly, my second start-up barely broke even, my third start-up was already quite good and my fourth start-up was Paypal”.
Astrid’s Key-Learnings:
Good organisation and time management Communication and feedback: Start telling people about your idea early enough to get valuable feedback. Say good-bye to DIY: You don’t have to be able to do everything and especially not everything yourself. You can outsource things to people who can do it better. Maybe you even have some in your environment.
Background information:
In the Hanseatic city, too, Hamburg’s female founders will be supported even more intensively in the future: As an example, the Hamburg Senate already decided in the summer to further develop existing formats with regard to female founders and to establish its own Female Founders Programme, with a focus on start-up financing.
EXIST-WOMEN: beyourpilot.de/en/news/detail/exist-women-neue-foerderlinie-unterstuetzt-gruenderinnen
Report on the Female Founders Programme in Hamburg: www.hamburg-news.hamburg/en/location/senate-strengthen-hamburgs-female-founders
Female Founders Monitor 2022: Number of female founders on the rise
