Gender balance in the entrepreneurial ecosystem has been historically poor. The world of business is male-dominated and too often women and those not-identifying as male are cut off from accessing funding and reaching the top level of their career. Male founders still account for the majority of successful international companies.
For a venture to succeed on an international scale, startups need to access new markets. Given that women traditionally have less access to the upper echelons of business, expanding into new markets can be made more difficult as they have fewer connections and fewer opportunities.
As part of Supernovas, the Rocket-up programme has opened a call for female-led startups to support their access to new European markets. Ten startups will be selected to participate in the activities, which will promote international outreach and sales to the most innovative ventures. The deadline for the call is 19 June 2022.
Through initiatives like Rocket-up, Supernovas support ventures to achieve growth by giving founders the vital network and international expansion tools. It’s part of a commitment to help bring about gender balance in the European startup ecosystem.
Rocket-up is a 3-month programme that supports women-led startups in accessing a new country or region by connecting them with experts and networking opportunities in the target market. The programme is looking for startups with a product-market-fit, are based in the EU or EU related countries, that add to the Sustainable Development Goals and address challenges related to EIT Urban Mobility, EIT Manufacturing or EIT Food focus areas.
What’s included?
- Internationalisation squad: Tailored and individual mentoring with three handpicked local experts for advice on the new ecosystem, possible connections, and soft-landing resources.
- Organised mission: Face-to-face introductions to potential stakeholders of the preferred target city, region or country.
- Online group events: Four online events with training activities, successful female entrepreneurs as speakers and opportunities for networking and connection with other entrepreneurial women.
- EIT pan-European network: Access to the EIT network (including European cities, industries partners, and investors) and financial opportunities
- Visibility: More visibility of the startups through EIT communication channels as an EIT Community supported venture
Through programmes like this, more women and people identifying as female are being empowered to take on major positions and become the future leaders and role models of the future.
Sound interesting to you? Apply via AwardsForce – the deadline is June 19th!
The programme is equity-free and 100% funded by the European Union. It is held inside Supernovas, a project of EIT Food, EIT Urban Mobility and EIT Manufacturing.
