Second Project Exchange Visit - Slovakia, September 13-14, 2007

Purpose

The exchange visit aimed at learning about strategies for supporting women’s entrepreneurship and access to microloans, exchanging experiences and good practices. All in all 17 participants visited Integra Foundation headquarters in the Slovakian capital Bratislava as well as two Integra branch offices, the so-called Happy Hand Centres in the towns of Lučenec and Ružomberok. In these towns, participants also met with entrepreneurs and visited Integra’s partner organisations.  

Visited Organisations

  • Integra Foundation Head Office, Bratislava
  • Integra branches “Happy Hand Centres”, Lučenec and Ružomberok
  • Labour Office Lučenec
  • Labour Office Ružomberok
  • Municipality of Lučenec
  • Municipality of Ružomberok
  • Employment Development Centre
  • VOKA

Main questions studied

The main questions studied during the exchange visit were:

  • Profile of women entrepreneurs supported by the host organisations: who are the supported women?
  • Which barriers do women face and which strategies have been developed to overcome these?
  • Specific communication strategies to reach women: how do the organisations reach women? Have they developed specific communication strategies?
  • Adapted training and support services: Are trainings and support services targeted at the specific needs of women entrepreneurs? How is this realised?
  • Community approach: Can Social Capital be viewed as an essential precondition for local economic development? Is this approach helpful and why?
  • How to provide Market Access to women entrepreneurs?

Learning Points

1) Women and Access to Finance

Many women who are supported by Integra especially take advantage of the business support.  

For the development of financial resources and creation of assets Integra uses mediation of access to financial resources in the form of microloans of Vernus Cooperative, bank loans, or subsidies from the Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.

2) Profile of women entrepreneurs supported by the host organisations

Most of the women supported by Integra are unemployed although they hold high school degrees. The Slovakian towns of Lučenec and Ružomberok are marked by high unemployment due to the heavy decline of industrial as well as agricultural activities in the region. Unemployment is especially high amongst the local Roma population. A large percentage of supported women therefore are Roma.

3) Communication

Integra is well known in the community and cooperates very closely with other existing business support programmes. The Happy Hand Centre project is accomplished in a form of the development partnership of several organizations - along with Integra Foundation, which is the lead partner, there are some other organizations including Vernus Cooperative, IN Network Slovakia, n.o. in Lučenec, Municipal Office of Ružomberok, The Office of Labor, Social Affairs and Family in Michalovce, and, as an associate partner, Slovenská rozvojová a záručná banka, a.s. (Slovak Guarantee and Development Bank).

Public events such as concerts and markets attract women. These events show positive role models as these women have successfully launched and grown their businesses.

4) An all-embracing approach to business support

The activities of centers are built upon four interconnected strategies:

  • The development of human resources using training and educational programmes in the area of entrepreneurial skills, language courses and specialized workshops. Individual mentoring program was created as an additional way of the support;
  • The growth support of successful companies through helping them access the market and mediating the sale in marketable channels of fair trade;

Integra training and support is well adapted to the specific needs of women. Integra provides:

  • Two different models of pre-business start-up training: a two week and a one week model. This enables women to take part in the training depending on their family duties.
  • An all-embracing approach: trainings address personal as well as business aspects, combining finance, marketing, personality, discussion and processes.
  • Post-business start-up training expands the basic entrepreneurial skills.
  • Women also have the possibility to use further services of the centre as well as other forms of training such as language and computer courses.

5) Social capital as an essential pre-condition for economic development

Strengthening social capital, i.e. trust and solidarity within the community, is an inevitable cultural precondition for local economic development. Integra therefore provides the opportunity to women entrepreneurs to meet in community groups and during club meetings and provides various spare-time activities for women.

  • Support groups meeting once a month to share their business experiences and difficulties;
  • Non-formal Meetings;
  • Work in community;
  • Concerts;
  • Seminars;
  • International Cooperation;

6) Market access

Integra found innovative ways to offer a marketing channel to business women by cooperating with gas stations, shopping centres, malls and its own retail shop called “Ten Senses”. Integra also organises markets in different locations where women can present and sell their products.