In the context of the research activities of the project “FEMME – Fostering the Exchange of Practices to Empower Mumpreneurship in Europe”, it was underlined the importance of Mentoring and of Funding opportunities for women who decide to create their own business after becoming mothers.
It should not be underestimated how great an impact mentoring can have on equipping women with the confidence to see their bold ideas through. Mentoring provides the necessary support to women, who not only face barriers in obtaining capital, but who lack the support and advice needed to thrive. It is important that women have opportunities to network and other female role models to look up to feel empowered and receive encouragement throughout their startup journey.
One of the most important barrier to mumreneurship is the difficulty in accessing to credit, especially
in science and technology sectors when substantial investments are required (i.e. product development, product marketing, etc.)
In Italy, there is an opportunity offered to startuppers in innovation, it is called “MIA – MISS IN ACTION”.
“MIA” represents the first Italian acceleration program dedicated to female entrepreneurship. The program collects the applications through a Call for innovation. The call is opened only to startups and Italian SME’s where half of the cofounders are women. The goal is to select innovative products and / or services in the digital sector. Ten projects will be selected, to participate to the pitch in the Innovation Day 5 that will be held in Milan on February 21st , 2019. The best fours will be included in a three-month acceleration program, which aim is to support startups/SMEs in achieving objectives through the support of best expertise, managers and mentors. The second step will be the development phase of an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) in which the four startups / SMEs will be supported in the definition of a joint project with one or more organizations of the BNP Paribas Group that is the founded authority of this project. The objective of this second step is to realise a first prototype that can possibly be integrated with banking, financial and insurance services. The program will end with the Investor Day, day where the startups/SMEs and the MVP will be presented to the audience of possible investors.
