iFEMPOWER entrepreneurial support point at SFU

THE FIRST IFEMPOWER CENTRE IN AUSTRIA

There are still very few women in leadership positions. Women are also underrepresented among entrepreneurs. Even though women and men are equally represented among university students, in some areas women even outnumber men, they rarely make it to C-level.
Our aim is to inspire, to motivate, to empower and make entrepreneurship a life perspective for all
We provide evidence-based solutions. Having interviewed entrepreneurs in 7 European countries, mapped existing supporting programmes and learnt from various stakeholders we put together a complex programme, which can enable young women at universities to create a great business all the way from the first idea to commercial viability.

WE SET BEST PRACTICES IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUPPORT AND EDUCATION

Besides our 2-semester-long course on business and gender, our intensive summer and winter schools and mentoring programme we also open the

FIRST ENTREPRENEURIAL SUPPORT POINT OF SIGMUND FREUD PRIVATE UNIVERSITY.

Along with partner institutions in Iceland, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Hungary and Romania starting from the Spring of 2020 we will build bridges between individuals, supporting institutions of Austria, the city of Vienna and on a broader scale, the European Union.

  • Do you have business ideas but are not sure how and where to start?
  • Do you want to be financially independent and open your own practice?
  • Or do you already run your company but would like to develop it further?
  • Would you like to meet likeminded people and team up to realise something great together?

It does not matter whether you are a BA, an MA, a PhD student or you already finsihed your studies at Sigmund Freud Private University, the iFEMPOWER Entrepreneurial Support Point might offer you important information.

The PROJECT

iFEMPOWER – Interactive and mentorship based FEMale emPOWERment in the field of entrepreneurship  is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, with 9 partners from 7 European countries (re. no. 2018-1-HU01-KA203-047766)

During its three years of implementation (01/09/2018-31/08/2021), ifempower aimed to empower young female students to become potential entrepreneurs by providing the necessary knowledge and skills (both soft and hard) to start their successful businesses. To reach this goal, the project developed innovative tools, educational & training methods and a mentoring system with the collaboration of 9 partners – mostly universities and consultancies.

Based on our preparatory research investigating the role of women in European SMEs (Study on Women Entrepreneurs in Europe), as well as gaps, obstacles and market needs, the project elaborated an International Curriculum for Higher Education in 5 languages for university students on entrepreneurship-related topics to support their engagement in self-employment. The accredited modules were launched and piloted at partner universities in Austria, Hungary, Iceland, Romania and Spain, and backed by our International Teaching Material for the participating teachers. More than 100 students have enrolled in the courses developed by ifempower to immerse in the world of female entrepreneurship.

In addition, the project applied an innovative and participatory approach by providing a Mentorship Scheme for interested students, connecting them to entrepreneurs. For those interested women who prefer to have a self-paced education, Ifempower also organised personal consultancy and developed a free Online Educational Toolkit in 7 languages, including mentors motivational videos. All mentioned outputs are available as Open Education Resources (OER).

Finally, the project results including policy recommendations expected to reach policymakers to fulfil the objective of making concrete progress in civil society regarding female entrepreneurship are collected in the Final ifempower Study.

ABOUT THE PROJECT: https://ifempower.eu/
MAIN OUTPUTS: https://ifempower.eu/intellectual-outputs/
Online Education Platform: https://ifempower.eu/online-education-platform/

Project partners: 

HÉTFA Research Institute (HU) | Coordinator / https://hetfa.eu/ 
Andalucía Emprende Foundation (ES) / https://www.andaluciaemprende.es/
Bifröst University (IS) / https://www.bifrost.is/english/ 
Corvinus University of Budapest (HU) / https://www.uni-corvinus.hu/?lang=en 
ONECO Consulting (ES) / https://oneco.org/ 
Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania (RO) / http://www.sapientia.ro/en
Sigmund Freud Private University (AT) / https://www.sfu.ac.at/en/
Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (PT) / https://spi.pt/en.index 
Steinbeis GmbH (DE) / https://stz-ost-west.de/

BE OUR MENTOR

BE OUR MENTOR – SUPPORT A STUDENT, AN ENTREPRENEUR-TO-BE

  • Are you interested in working with a student to develop an attitude, mindset, and skills that are essential for starting a new venture?
  • Would you like to show a young person how to write a powerful business plan, and how to use it for successful external communication?
  • As an expert in your field, would you share your experiences, and the lessons you have picked up through years of building your company?
  • Fill in the FORM (pdf) and let us discuss the possibilities

PEOPLE

The iFEMPOWER entrepreneurial support point is coordinated by Dr. Erzsébet Fanni Tóth at Sigmund Freud Unviersity Vienna.

   Dr. Erzsébet Fanni Tóth is the project manager of iFEMPOWER at Sigmund Freud Private University. She has years long experience in managing and conducting international, interdisciplinary research projects. Her main interests include: gender, narrative identity, empowerment, diversity and inclusion. She is the elected leader of the non-professiorial scientific staff members (Mittelbau) at the Faculty of Psychotherapy Science as well as member of the Senate of the Sigmund Freud Private University. Besides her academic work she is the founder and leader of Femspace, a professional women’s organisation, where she organises monthly workshops, networking events, international mentoring programmes for women across Europe. E-mail: erzsebet.toth@sfu.ac.at

 

Mirjana Frankovic was born is Slovenia in 1973 and has finished her education up to Master degree on Ljubljana University. Her childhood interests took her to Business school and she later made a career in International business being involved in developmental projects all over the Europe. In 2008 she decided to take the entrepreneurship path and established her own company. The business operations were the development and production of food supplements. This business remained her main focus for many years that followed. Mirjana started parallely studying Psychotherapy in 2006 with Transactional Analysis teacher and in the beginning of 2020 she passed her CTA exam. She is PhD student at SFU Vienna and for the last couple years she has mainly worked as psychotherapist with individuals and couples within her private practise. She is still very much involved with her company mostly in setting up the management team and taken less responsibilities which now allow her to focus on the things she wishes and likes to do. Mirjana is triathlete (Multi 70.3 Ironman) and marathon runner.

 

Eva Wimmer, MA is a sociologist foucusing on methods of interpretative and qualitative social research. After finishing her studies in Sociology in 2012 she has worked as a researcher in several projects at the University of Vienna and other institutions on national and international levels. She has been working as a university assistant at the Sigmund Freud Private University at the Institute for Qualitative Psychotherapy Research since 2017. In addition to her position at SFU she teaches as a lecturer at the University of Vienna at the Institute for Sociology and at the ARGE Bildungsmanagement.

The emphasis in teaching is on qualitative and interpretive methods. Her research focuses mainly on psychosomatics, body, and gender in psychotherapy as well as the integration of sociology and psychotherapy science.

IFEMPOWER | Save the date: Final Multiplier Event on 12 July 2021

After the successful implementation of the 4th Multiplier Event held back-to-back to the ifempower Spring School, the time has come to announce the FINAL Multiplier Event of the ifempower project.

The Final Multiplier Event will be the main event dedicated to raising awareness on the project results and its main achievements with a special view on the Final Study which will not only assess the results and related activities developed during the project but will include policy recommendations.

Therefore, the event will gather:

  • Higher Education institutions, already launched or wishing to launch women entrepreneurship support modules,
  • Businesses, enterprises, business support organizations wishing to support the empowerment of females,
  • National & EU decision makers.

The Final Multiplier Event, which will be held on 12 July 2021, online, is a public and free of charge event.
Find out more…

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