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Description of the project SEEWBANPartners Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, ItalyUK (region of Scotland).1.OBJECTIVES 1.OBJECTIVES General Objective: to increase the number of Women Business Angels (WBAs) in Europe (with a specific focus on South East Europe), and to facilitate the funding of Women Entrepreneurs (WEs) by Business Angels.Specific Objectives: The specific objectives of the project are the following:to create a WBAs consortium with partners coming from 7 EU member states: Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Hungary, Italy and UK (region of Scotland).to identify the success factors, the challenges and obstacles that women are facing to become business angels, implement a strategy and propose concrete measures to tackle these obstacles and increase the number of WBA in the regions of the consortiumto facilitate the transfer of experience from experienced WBA networks (such as Women’s Enterprise Scotland that participates in the consortium) to countries where the existence of WBAs is very small or non-existentto facilitate transnational community cooperationand networking via the European e-platform for women entrepreneurship (WEgate)to recruit new WBAs in the consortiumto increase the skills of the recruited WBAs through the delivery of training and mentoring programsto increase the skills of women entrepreneurs in pitching and relevant business strategies through the delivery of trainingto organise pitching events in order to increase the investments of WBAs in women enterprisesto communicate effectively the results and the activities of the projectto ensure that the activities of the project will continue also after the completion of the 2 year funding period.882650787402JUSTIFICATION 002JUSTIFICATION Perceived needs and constraints in the target groups;Business angel investing is an essential source of funding and support for a large number of early stage and start-up businesses.Although it is estimated that half of the EU’s wealth is in female hands, very few women are active in business angel investment. A survey of EBAN members has determined that less than 5% of European business angel network members are women, and for the countries of Southeast Europe - which is the target area of this proposal – is close to 0%. This percentage is extremely low, especially if we consider that in the US this percentage is approximately 15%.Investors tend to invest in people who remind them of themselves. The vast majority of individual business investors, known as ‘business angels,’ are men, so maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that the number of female entrepreneurs who get this kind of funding is also tiny.The creation of a Women Business Angels Network, particularly in an area where it didn’t exist, will help in many ways:Increasing the number of women investors would increase the total number of active business angel investors and lead to a general increase in the number of deals being funded and enabled to reach their growth potential.Non-financial support to start-ups has proven to be as important, if not more important, than financial support at the early stages of company development for developing partnerships, client lists and critical business strategy. In today’s marketplace, women make a large percentage of household purchasing decisions, so that increasing the number of women angel investors means adding mission-critical expertise for marketing, messaging and product development as well as capital and mentoring.New Women Business Angels Networks, by bringing different personal and professional networks, will bring new and diverse deal flow to the European Business Angels Networks.Women Business angel investment, as a class within a balanced investment portfolio, offers an opportunity to investors for wealth creation as it offers the potential for a strong financial return on investment.Angel investors are often past entrepreneurs themselves, many of them serial entrepreneurs. Active angel investors may thus also be establishing new businesses whilst also being active angels. It has been shown that women who start up a business often do not look for equity finance, but rather seek to achieve slower, more organic and lower-risk growth. Becoming a business angel and gaining an insight into the requirements of investors.By participating in Women business angel networks involving co-investment, and working as a group with different business angel investors and in a range of early stage businesses, women would acquire broader competences that they can then use in their current or future career roles.Women participate in Women Business Angels have the opportunity to network with a range of successful businessmen and women from many sectors and backgrounds.Typical business angel investors in Europe currently are retired male entrepreneurs who are over 55. Women who have a different background may therefore believe that, because they do not have the same skills as the existing cohort of business angel investors, they do not have the right or appropriate skills to add value to an investor group or an entrepreneur. They may believe that their track record or experience would not be sufficiently valuable. In reality, the addition of new and different skills to the investor base will increase diversity and may improve performance. Education to address this issue will encourage more women to participate.list of target groups with an estimate of the anticipated number of direct and indirect beneficiaries;The main target groups of the project are the following:Women Entrepreneurs: anticipated number: 300Women Business Angels: anticipated number: 100Other target groups include local, regional and national stakeholders that are going to be included in the ECBWA as well as representatives from other similar initiatives and projects. Target number: 150reasons for the selection of the target groups and activities;The target area of this proposal (Southeast Europe) doesn’t have any support as it is reported by EBAN and EUROPEAN BUSINESS ANGELS MARKET of BAE (BUSINESS ANGELS EUROPE).Even though in this area many women Entrepreneurs are active in startup businesses in innovative sectors, they don’t have any support from Business Angels (both women and men).In cooperation with the Associations of Female Entrepreneurs in Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia we came to the conclusion that the involvement of a WBA Network in the area would be a catalyst to the development of women businesses in the area.The promotion and encouragement of women entrepreneurship is a crucial lever of economic growth for the target area of the proposal because it can largely contribute to the GDP growth, to the creation of new jobs and to stimulate innovation and social cohesion. Female Entrepreneurship is a source of growth and it creates new jobs, even though in the target area this potential hasn’t been exploited. The women that try to start their own innovative business face big obstacles, especially when it comes to access to funds and proper education.relevance of the project to the target groups;The operation of a WBA Network in the Southeast Europe area would help the development of female innovative businesses and to the balanced development of the European Union countries.Associations of Female Entrepreneurs as well as Female Entrepreneurs of Commerce of the target area can help the development of the area by gaining resources and knowledge. This makes the creation of a South Eastern Europe Women Business Angels Network very crucial.relevance of the project to the objectives of the call.The proposed project identifies with the objectives of the call to increase the number of Women Business Angels (WBAs) in Europe, and to facilitate the funding of Women Entrepreneurs (WEs) by Business Angels. Especially:Creation of a WBAs consortium with partners coming from at least 4 EU Member States (MS).Perform a survey and analysis to identify the success factors, the challenges and obstacles that women are facing to become business angels, implement a strategy and propose concrete measures to tackle these obstacles and increase the number of WBA in the regions of the working and providing information about the WBAs members of the consortium and propose ways to facilitate transnational community cooperation via the European e-platform for women entrepreneurship (WEgate).Providing a detailed recruitment plan of WBAs, including a new member sponsor recognition programme.Development and delivery of training and mentoring programs for the recruited anisation of training for pitching and relevant business strategies for women anisation of pitching events.The most important aspect is that those entire actions take place in an area where something similar is not existing, helping not only the balanced gender development but also the balanced development between the member countries of the EU. ................
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