Lfirst edition of She’s Next in Italy it opened in May with the launch of a selection of three female entrepreneurs. The candidates will be selected especially among those who have with their company contributed to the Italian economy in the post-Covid period and developed innovative projects and strategies in the fields of industry, commerce, services and crafts.
The 3 selected entrepreneurs will receive goods and services with a net value of up to 10,000 euros to develop and make their business more competitive, together with training and mentoring opportunities through the Visa platforms dedicated to SMEs and the expertise of Visa experts and project partners. Applications are still open and can be submitted until June 29 on the site www.shesnext.it.
She’s Next for female entrepreneurship
She’s Next is Visa’s global program for support and encourage female entrepreneurshipproviding small women-led businesses funds and opportunities for training, networking and mentoring. Since 2020, Visa has globally invested approx $3 million in more than 250 grants and coaching for women PMI owners as part of the company’s broader commitment to supporting businesses internationally.
The first edition was launched in Italy in May 2023 which sees the assignment to three female entrepreneurs of goods and services for a value of 10,000 euros in combination with tutoring thanks to Visa experts and access to Visa platforms for digitizing SMEs such as Practical Business Skills, which was fully localized in Italian for the project.
Tutoring programs
Practical Business Skills offers growth-oriented entrepreneurial tools to help start, run, and grow a business. With over 50 online learning modules, the platform addresses needs at various stages of the business lifecycle:
–Starting a business, with tools for prospective entrepreneurs to understand and evaluate the steps involved in opening, financing, running and marketing a business.
–Run a businesswith insights into day-to-day business management, including templates for financial and cash flow analysis, and resources to drive sales.
–Construction and growthwith tactics on how to steer companies to more profitable long-term success.
In Italy the program sees the participation of the most important realities linked to the world of business and training, including Tertiary Womenthe representative group of female entrepreneurs associated with Confcommercio-Imprese per l’Italia, operating in the sectors of commerce, tourism, services, SMEs and professions.
The importance of female entrepreneurship
In Italy, women are strongly underrepresented both at the entrepreneurial level, where they constitute only the 22% of Italian entrepreneurs against one EU average standing at 32%both at the level of corporate positions: less than a third are in leadership roles (32%).
Visa research shows how, faced with the challenges posed by the current geopolitical context, women’s businesses have reacted positively. Although costs have increased for 61% of respondents, only 10% have had to scale back their operations, and reduce their workforce (9%), while the 3% got more support from the government.
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