Women in entrepreneurship, the solution for increasing the national GDP through “Woman Leader” project

The VERTIK Public Policy Initiative Group for the Future is launching the “Woman Leader” project, with the aim of contributing to a 1% increase in national GDP through female entrepreneurship.

The launching evet will take place on October, 1, starting 18:00, within Aria TNB, on the terrace of National Theatre Bucharest – TNB.

The press invitation containing the Agenda of launching event can be accessed at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1O5HAmN_hq-OIfDMxunCzIcUOno0DfnWc/edit#

88% of Romanians believe that women are suitable to run businesses to a large or very large extent, and 89% of them believe that businesses run by women managers or shareholders are reliable show the perception study * launched by the VERTIK Association for Future in March 2020. The areas in which women entrepreneurs and managers are seen as competent are: HORECA, health, education, marketing and the liberal professions. At the end of the list are the technical fields: engineering, transport, construction or agriculture.

“Both the official reports and the trust that Romanians have in women entrepreneurs, show us that Romania has a major resource of competitiveness in female entrepreneurship. It is up to us to turn this potential into a vector of economic growth, following models already tested in Canada, Spain or Poland. As a country, we have something to gain if we capitalize on the potential of women entrepreneurs, especially in competitive economic sectors, such as IT&C, research, technological innovation, areas still strongly segregated “, says Daniela Șerban, president and co-founder of VERTIK.

Therefore, women can change Romania through entrepreneurship, but they need: (1) public policies to accelerate development, (2) entrepreneurship education, financial education and quality mentoring to make up for the lack of managerial experience, and (3) access to financial resources and support for entrepreneurial initiatives.

That is why the public policy initiative group VERTIK for the Future, founded by Daniela Șerban, launches the “Woman Leader” project to contribute to the social and economic development of Romania through female entrepreneurship.

The “Woman Leader” project will identify 10 ladies who can become the next leaders of Romania. They will enter a specially designed mentoring program that will support and amplify their performance potential, skills and abilities, by combining entrepreneurship education with public policy research and analysis. Within the program, the 10 disciples will be included in the research and analysis group, in order to identify by the end of the year a set of ideas and proposals for public policies, in order to contribute to the 1% increase of national GDP through female entrepreneurship.

“Woman Leader” project’s steps are as follows:

September 28 – October 11 – national selection campaign through www.vertik.ro. The applications consist in uploading on the website a presentation video with a maximum duration of 1 minute and two texts of maximum 300 words to answer the questions: 1. “What are you most passionate about right now? Why?” and 2. “How do you see the possibility of a change in your life? What would you like to change and what difficulties do you think you would face? ”

October 12 – October 20 – evaluation and selection of applications by the jury consisting of Daniela Șerban (founder of VERTIK and finance professional), Corneliu Bodea (president of the Romanian Energy Center), Wargha Enayati (founder Regina Maria, health entrepreneur) , Adriana Goleanu (founder of Lotus Cosmetics, president of the Employers’ Organization of the Cosmetics Industry), Mihaela Nădășan (Deputy General Manager, Banca Transilvania) and Ana Maria Mihăescu (Member of the Board of Raiffeisen Bank and MedLife).

October 22 – November 8, 2020 – 20-hour coaching and mentoring session, conducted in 10-15 online discussions, offered by exceptional professionals, experts in psychology, communication, marketing, entrepreneurship and public policy. The mentors who will be involved in the project are: Christina Verchere (CEO of OMV Petrom), Sergiu Neguț (co-founder of FintechOS), Mihaela Miroiu (writer, university professor at SNSPA and PhD supervisor in political science), Radu Magdin (CEO Smartlink Communications ), Anca Burke (Chief Strategy Officer at idrive AI) and Raluca Tita (Marketing Manager at EcoFinance).

After completing the project stages, the 10 will be appointed VERTIK ambassadors for one year and will be involved in communication and public affairs campaigns to promote the public policy proposals developed in the project. They will have the opportunity to participate in VERTIK events, will benefit from the support of mentors and the team, which will closely follow their evolution for a year, to document their entrepreneurial career within the “Woman Leader” project.

* The study initiated by the think tank VERTIK aimed to measure the level of trust and prejudice towards female entrepreneurship, an area in which Romania has good performance compared to the European average. The market study was conducted by the market research agency IZI dated February 2020, using the CAWI methodology, on a representative national urban sample, among 1008 respondents, sampling error of 3.1%.

VERTIK pentru Viitor is a public policy initiative group, founded by Daniela Șerban, which aims to outline a long-term vision for Romania, starting from its competitive advantages and its high added value potential and their integration in international opportunities. VERTIK is the newest think tank for economy and entrepreneurship that will analyze and propose solutions for Romania to reach its potential and become a prosperous nation. The group includes an independent research and analysis team, composed of representatives of civil society and the business environment.

Daniela Șerban is also the initiator and president of ARIR (Association for Investor Relations in Romania) and holds a strong experience in the capital markets, mass media and consulting.