Woman leader project: Economic development through women leadership

We are all going through a difficult period, with new challenges and questions on all levels. We learn to adapt on the go, to wear masks and gloves, to distance ourselves physically and to communicate in most of the cases  online. We’re wondering what will happen next? And how much does the answer to this question depends on us to be as good as possible?

Trying to give an answer, I feel the need to appeal to the image of Queen Maria, the first modern woman of our country, also called the mother of modern Romania. Why was she called like that? Because she loved her people and the country. Because she was a model of patriotism, altruism and nobility.

Because, in the epidemic period, she cared for typhus patients, refusing to wear gloves. And when they kissed her hands, she said, “I can’t give them a rubber hand, they need me.” She was always saying “I refuse to feel defeated”. Because she was trying to shape a future for her country.

I am not saying purely by chance all these things, but to show how important is the love that a person could have for its country and the belief that you must do something for your country. And especially out of the desire to show how important it is to believe, to have ideals and to have the courage to fight in order to turn them into reality.

I believe in the future of Romania, built by honest, dedicated and patriotic people. I believe in the courage to follow our dreams. I launched VERTIK, having in mind the idea of building a long-term vision for our country.

And I believe it is important to start with two fundamental aspects, entrepreneurship and agriculture.

Last but not least, I am saying, as a mother, that I believe in children. In their potential, in their intelligence and energy, in our obligation as parents to protect them, to educate them and to prepare them for the  future. Also, we can’t talk about the future without taking in consideration children. I believe in the need to learn from them.

And I also believe that Romania can be a success story. That is why I urge you to join my vision! Success stories are built with people who trust in themself and inspire trust in others.

The project “Woman Leader” will identify 10 ladies that could become the next leaders of Romania. They will participate in a specially developed mentoring program, that will support them and amplify their performance potential, skills and abilities, by combining entrepreneurship education with public policy research and analysis. During the project, 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 of public policies, that could lead to an 1% increase of national GDP through woman entrepreneurship.

“Woman Leader” project stages are the following:

1. 28 September – 18 October – 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 following questions:  1.”What are your passions? And why?” 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?”

• 18 October – 28 October – evaluation and selection of applications by a jury composed of Daniela Șerban (founder of VERTIK and finance professional),Corneliu Bodea (president of Romania Center of Energy), Dr. Wargha Enayati (Founder of the Regina Maria Network and Enayati Medical City), Adriana Goleanu (founder of Lotus Cosmetics and president of The Cosmetic Industry Organization), Mihaela Nădășan (Deputy General Manager, Banca Transilvania) and Ana Maria Mihăescu (member of the board of directors Raiffeisen Bank and MedLife).

• 28 October – 15 November 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 are: Christina Verchere (CEO OMV Petrom), Sergiu Neguț (co-founder FintechOS), Mihaela Miroiu (writer, university professor SNSPA and  PhD coordinator in political science), Radu Magdin (CEO Smartlink Communications), Anca Burke (Chief Strategy Officer at idrive AI), Cristian Dumitrache, Trainer Al Ferasa, și Raluca Tita (psychologist, Marketing Manager at EcoFinance).