Women entrepreneurs face many challenges in this time of crisis. Therefore, the RE-FEM project research is focused on overcoming these challenges through its results as a Research Report: Women Entrepreneurs in Turbulent Times. The report provides information on the women entrepreneurs' situation in Slovakia and partner countries, as well as the results on the impact of COVID-19 and all other crises that came after the pandemic and affected women entrepreneurs.
The research was conducted with the involvement of all project partners and countries; hence data was collected from Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania (Transylvania), Serbia, Slovakia, and Spain (Andalusia). More than six hundred (608) respondents completed the survey, which provides valuable insights into the experiences and responses of women entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic and the recovery phase after the pandemic shedding light on their resilience and adaptability in the face of challenges. Furthermore, interviews were conducted with 24 experts and 56 women entrepreneurs.
In the interviews, the experts highlighted the need for targeted policies, support programmes and initiatives dedicated to women entrepreneurs, not only during crises but consistently. These programmes should recognise and address the specific challenges women entrepreneurs face in business.
Women entrepreneurs shared their experiences and challenges in times of COVID-19 and its impact and beyond. It encompassed all the other challenges they had faced since the last wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis details the challenges women entrepreneurs face in times of crisis, their strategies, and their needs for support.
Not only challenges but learning and new opportunities characterise the post-Covid era. The women entrepreneurs gained valuable experiences, enhanced their skills to professionalise their entrepreneurial activities further, strengthened existing or started to build resilient communities, and seized new business opportunities within the constraints they faced during the crisis.
Read the Executive summary in Slovak language.
You can find the research report in English and its summaries in Spanish, Hungarian, Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Finnish on the RE-FEM project website.