Women and responsible entrepreneurship

Romanian women are the most willing in the European Union to start their own business.

Monica Chiorpec, 23.12.2015, 12:06

Romanian women are the most willing in the European Union to start their own business. This is the conclusion of a recent survey according to which almost one third of Romanian women plan to start a business within the next three years, compared with 11% of women in Italy and 8% in Germany, Spain and Belgium. However, fear of failure prevents half of the Romanian women to pursue their dream. A recent project implemented with European funds as part of the Human Resources Development Sectoral Operational Programme provided much needed help to the women who flirt with the idea of starting their own business but can’t bring themselves to do it because they lack courage or information. Professional training courses for unemployed women and entrepreneurship courses were held as part of a programme called Active Women for Integrity and Responsibility. The programme had such great impact that attendance was much higher than initially planned, said Stefania Cojocaru, the director of the Training Centre of the Spiru Haret University, one of the partners in the project:

“It was a beautiful project that started with a target group of 450 persons and ended up with 943 persons. We doubled the number of seats because of the large number of applications. I am proud of the women who took part in the programme, in particular those who went on and started a business.”

The initiator of the project was Transparency International Romania and was aimed at fighting inequality of opportunity and corruption. The project manager Victor Alistar explains:

“The questions arises why Transparency International is involved in this Sectoral Operational Programme aimed at eliminating gender stereotypes and promoting entrepreneurship among women. The answer lies in the Global Corruption Barometer, which shows that women are less likely to take part in acts of corruption. All social surveys indicate that when it comes to promoting values within the family, women take centre stage.

When it comes to discrimination on the labor market, we can see we have a couple of major indicators, such as people in the rural areas, people over 45 and women. So we thought we could develop entrepreneurship projects for women, based on a model of integrity aimed at rendering any initiative more resistant. If you opt for an upstanding entrepreneurship course, you know better than other micro-enterprises how to avoid the risk of being pressured by administrative inspections.”

Apart from courses, organizers also considered the project’s sustainability. They initiated a contest for business start-ups. Here is Victor Alistar once again.

”We also held a contest to select the best start-ups, so that the project may yield something concrete. Having invested in people, in the sense of forming human resources, it is also important that several entrepreneurship models continue to be used. Some of them are likely to be successful even five years from now, while others may be facing difficulties and will advance at a slower pace. It was important that participants in the project to look for solutions and take part in the contest. “

Among the people who learned a lot after taking part in the project are the winners of the contest.

”I won with a business plan for a beauty parlor and I am proud of it. I had not planned to do something like that, although I’ve always wanted to start a business of my own. I had neither the courage nor the information to do it. This program helped me a great deal in this respect.”

The commercial worker courses were also appreciated, judging by what another participant in the FAIR project says: ”For me, this was an amazing. Before I took up the course I did not think it was a big deal to be a commercial worker. But I changed my opinion during the course. Being a commercial worker means a great deal more than just saying hello and tending to the client. It is actually a very complex and pleasant job. Entrepreneurship was not completely new to me, but the course helped me put my ideas in order, build my business and fulfill my dream of being my own boss. “

Another goal of the project was to set up an Upstanding Women’s Entrepreneurship Center, currently managed by the Spiru Haret University. Among other things, the center seeks to encourage women who want to start their own business.

Translated by Cristina Mateescu / Eugen Nasta