Driving Social Change through Entrepreneurship

The innovative entrepreneurship training program for female survivors of domestic violence was the focus of the second EASE Multiplier Event, which took place in Paris on 24th of January 2024. It was an interactive event with keynotes, panel discussions and workshops with over 50 Social Entrepreneurs, Leaders and members of Associations focused on women’s rights and the reduction of violence, sponsors and Corporate Social Responsibility actors, Teachers for Entrepreneurship and students. All with one goal: To identify opportunities for women who experienced domestic violence to reintegrate into their professional life and to become successful entrepreneurs.

The Project EASE – cofounded by the European Union via Erasmus Plus – developed and implemented an innovative approach to domestic violence, aiming to help survivors get back on track by equipping them with entrepreneurial skills, coaching and mentorship. The training program spanned over six months and was implemented in three pilot projects, successfully launched in France, Bulgaria and Czechia during the first half of 2023.

The event was realized by the local French partners Led by HER (LBH) - a pro bono organization which offers reconstruction through entrepreneurship to women victims of visible and invisible violence - and INSTITUT DE PREPARATION A L'ADMINISTRATION ET A LA GESTION (IPAG) - a French private business school located in Paris, Nice, Los Angeles and Kumming together with all other partners of the project.

It began with two keynotes on the topics "The EASE training program: Target group, structure and components of the innovative program" (by Chérine Zgaya Bouzouita (IPAG)) and "The EASE training program: Mentoring as a key component for success" (by Mauro Molinari (LBH)). The participants were given a good overview of the developed program, which was deepened in a subsequent panel discussion with the project managers in the individual pilot countries - Sylvie Locatelli (Led by HER) for France, Eva Filippova (University of New York in Prague S.R.O.) for the Czech Republic and Tania Tisheva (FONDATSIYA BULGARSKI TSENTAR ZA GENDER IZVEDVANIYA) for Bulgaria.

Specific aspects of the program were then discussed in detail in two workshop sessions on the topics of "Building Entrepreneurship" (led by Chérine Zgaya Bouzouita (IPAG)) and "Constructing Resilience" (led by Claire Mays (LBH)). Important conclusions and suggestions for optimization were drawn, making the event a complete success. The leading outcomes of the day were:

The focus is not on the business idea, but on the women and their personalities.
The use of various soft skills workshop elements, team and personal activities such as fencing, theater & yoga sessions to create new self-confidence and belief in oneself and the own business idea are key.
Role model talks and group cohesion among the women during the training are crucial.
It was very important to adapt all our activities to local conditions, which was clear to all partners from the start, but of course challenging to implement.
One Key success factor: Trustful cooperation between the local NGO partner and the academic side of the business schools

For more information, please contact Mr Hubert Falkowski at admin@thinkyoung.eu

OUR PARTNERS

The organization works in the field of gender equality, prevention of domestic violence, reproductive rights and anti-discrimination by providing information, elaboration and production of researches, analyses and draft laws.

Led By HER is France’s first pro bono to offer reconstruction through entrepreneurship to women victims of visible or invisible violence. Our learners take back leadership of their life and acquire new skills.

The IPAG Business School is a French private business school founded in 1965 by Jacques Rueff. It is located in Paris, Nice, Los Angeles and Kunming. IPAG, French Business School Through a dozen programmes geared towards the professions of tomorrow, it trains responsible, open-minded and committed managers.

Munich Business School is an officially accredited private higher education institution. It offers education programs for more than 650 students, 50% coming from outside of Germany.

The University of New York in Prague is a private higher education institution in Prague, Czech Republic. It was established in 1998 in cooperation with the State University of New York at New Paltz and Empire State College, both part of the State University of New York.

It is a not-for-profit organisation, with the aim of making the world a better place for young people, by involving them in decision making processes and by providing decision makers with high-quality research on key issues affecting young people.