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AIC Forum: Supporting Women Entrepreneurs in SE Europe

Learn about the AIC Forum, a transnational organization that supports women entrepreneurs in the Adriatic and Ionian area. Discover their mission, goals, and collaborative efforts with other networks.

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AIC Forum: Supporting Women Entrepreneurs in SE Europe

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  1. “First Forum for South East European Women Entrepreneurs” “Women’s Entrepreneurship - State of Affairs in the Adriatic and Ionian Area” Istanbul, 21 September 2010

  2. The Adriatic and Ionian Chambers (AIC) Forum - legal entity • Born in 2001, the AIC Forum is a transnational non-profit legal entity set up under the provisions of the Italian law. • It can apply for EU, national and regional programmes as an autonomous legal player. • Since 2008 the AIC Forum has been listed in the Marche Regional Register for International Cooperation and Solidarity. • Since 2009 the AIC Forum has been listed in the official on-line register of the Cooperation Office of the European Commission – EuropeAid (PADOR code: IT-2009-BSL-0207531853) to enable the AIC Forum as potential applicant to EuropeAid grants

  3. AIC Forum - Structure and organization • The AIC Forum Association comprises today 37 chambers of commerce and economy from Italy (all the Regions of the Adriatic Sea side), Slovenia, Croatia, Federation of BIH, Montenegro, Albania and Greece; • It has a Permanent Secretariat in Italy at the Ancona Chamber of Commerce, and one other in Croatia at the Croatian Chamber of Economy – County Chamber of Split; • It works through different thematic workgroups: Tourism, Women’s entrepreneurship, Transports, Agriculture, Fisheries and aquaculture, Environment, that are used to organise one annual meeting in the occasion of the AIC Forum Annual Edition and to carry out different kind of initiatives (seminars, BtoB meetings, training course, etc.) during all the year.

  4. AIC Forum – our mission The AIC Forum favour a process of long-lasting growth and development in the Adriatic-Ionian area by means of... • a project-oriented working method; • the effective use of regional, national and EU public resources, as well as private sponsorships; • the tangible application of European principles and cohesion and proximity policies, also through the collaboration with the other Inter-Adriatic networks: the Adriatic Ionian Initiative (AII), the Forum of Adriatic and Ionian Cities and Towns, the Uniadrion network of Universities, and the Adriatic Euroregion.

  5. AIC Forum - main goals The AIC Forum can actively contribute: • create the conditions and working tools for the growth of the Euro-Adriatic macro-region; • reinforce partners' capacities to ensure the application of the European proximity policy principles; • allow for better possibilities to access various financing channels; • develop joint initiatives for the development of economic and commercial relations between all players active in the Adriatic and Ionian area

  6. AIC Forum - Marketing actions and integration with other network The AIC Forum intends to consolidate its relations with other networks of chambers of commerce and other networks: - EUROCHAMBRES:this year the AIC Forum has applied a candidature to be listed as official member of the prestigious network. - E.E.N. (European Enterprise Network):the Association enhance a strategic use of this network starting from the Relay offices located within the AIC Forum members • ASCAME:signed an agreement for a bilateral collaboration in 12th November 2008 to implement actions for the social and economic development of the Adriatic-Ionian and Mediterranean area • NECSTOUR (Network of European Competitiveness and Sustainable Tourism Regions):from 2010 the AIC Forum is an official associated member of this network promoted by Toscana Region (Italy), Catalunya (Spain) and Paca – Provence – Alpes – Côte d’Azur (France), that offers a further opportunity of confrontation and investigation on sustainable tourism • -AII (Adriatic and Ionian Initiative):relations with the AII Permanent Secretariat have been strengthened since the Greek Presidency (2008-2009), up to the current Italian Presidency (2009-2010). To date, the Forum of the Chambers of Commerce can be considered one of the AII operational arms with special reference to SMEs and related economic issues.

  7. AIC Forum some examples of our work…. • The International Arbitration Court: this organ of the AIC Forum was set up with the aim of promoting legal and administrative integration within the Adriatic-Ionian macro-area and providing business players with a valid support tool in the correct and transparent management of their economic and commercial relations. It offers conciliation, arbitration, arbitrage and contractual surveying services.(http://www.forumaic.org/) • ADRION “Adriatic and Ionian Lands”: this brand, already registered at national and international level originates from the idea of using an identification brand called "Adrion" as the central element, around which all future touristic promotion and communication activities of the Adriatic and Ionian area should be developed. (http://www.adrion.forumaic.org/)

  8. AIC Forum …..some examples of our work • ITAC – “Innovation Technology for Adriatic Competitiveness(co-financed by EU within the Interreg IIIA CARDS/PHARE – NPPA Programme). It was the first project co-financed by EU (Cross Border Cooperation Programme for the Adriatic and Ionian Area) carried out by a network of 16 Chambers coming from both West and East coast of the Adriatic Sea, aimed at promoting forms of crossborder aggregation between SMEs and public and private Research Centres to support them in designing, experimenting, developing and pre-engineering new products, processes or services which are able to bring about marked improvements in business competitiveness. (http://itac.seadriatic.net/)

  9. AIC Forum …..some examples of our work • A specific Workgroup for women’s entrepreneurship has been set up within the Forum in order to promote the growth of businesses led by women. It provides opportunities for collaboration and the exchange of good practices intended to harmonise strategies in support of female entrepreneurship. The 37 Chambers of Commerce associated with the AIC Forum represent more than 1.35 million businesses in the 7 countries that overlook the Adriatic-Ionian basin. • Just over one in five businesses (over 300,000) are led by a woman. • This figure alone illustrates the importance of the initiative launched in 2001 to promote women in business. • The table’s annual meetings carried out have highlighted that female entrepreneurship is a precious resource for the “quality growth” of the Adriatic and Ionian Area.

  10. AIC Forum - Workgroup for women’s entrepreneurship • A summary of the main initiatives to date: • A “shop show” that provides female enterprises with business opportunities and increased visibility (http://womeninbusiness.forumaic.org/news/index.php); • The promotion of the importance of the establishment of specific Committees for Women Entrepreneurs within every Chamber of Commerce, looking to the best practice of the Italian Chamber of Commerce system (Committees for Women’s entrepreneurship), as a first step towards raising the awareness of the female business culture, and the creation of a strategic network in the region;

  11. AIC Forum - Workgroup for women’s entrepreneurship • The organisation of Annual congresses on female entrepreneurship in order to explore areas of priority interest (credit, innovation, protection of intellectual property, sustainability, transport and mobility) and to present projects connected to Adriatic cross-border programmes.The last four and next Edition: - Dubrovnik - Croatia, 2006 - Ancona - Italy, 2007 - Pržno - Montenegro, 2008 - Durrës - Albania, 2009 - The next meeting will be held in Mostar – FBIH, November 2010

  12. AIC Forum - Workgroup for women’s entrepreneurship • The promotion of the Charter of Values: a model of sustainable development for the women enterprises of the Adriatic and Ionian area (approved during the 4th Congress of the Women’s Enterprises of the Adriatic and Ionian Area held in Durres in October 2009). It is a voluntary tool of Corporate Social Responsibility to “guide” women entrepreneurs of the Adriatic and Ionian Area towards a new approach in the evaluation of an enterprise, based not only in terms of economic production and the capacity of generating profits, but also in social and environmental terms. The focus is thus on ethics, responsibility and quality as factors of competitiveness, growth and development of enterprises. Also those chambers of commerce willing to enhance their initiatives and good practices in favour of enterprises can sign the Charter of Values. The registration form for enterprises and chambers of commerce can be downloaded from the website of the Workgroup for Women Entrepreneurship.

  13. AIC Forum - Workgroup for women’s entrepreneurship • Contest (regulation and forms) for the concession of grant to innovative women enterprises of the Adriatic and Ionian Area for favouring recovery and stimulating entrepreneurial spirit among women: the publication of the competition call for women enterprises in the Adriatic-Ionian area is actually in progress: there was an official presentation during the last Congress in Durres (Albania). • Creation of a data-base of the women enterprises from all Chambers that are members of the AIC Forum (Permanent Observatory). This issue has been one of the key objectives of the Forum’s workgroup on women's entrepreneurship for a number of years.

  14. AIC Forum - Workgroup for women’s entrepreneurship State of the art of the permanent observatory up-dating activities: On the basis of what was possible to achieve until today, some difficulties must be outlined in collecting the data, defining the standard indicators and, lastly, updating this data. The difficulties encountered were different from country to country. The Forum intends to work on them in order to obtain a database as complete and updated as possible which could then be used to activate new initiatives regarding economic development and entrepreneurial culture. To this end, the Forum, also with the help of RCC and UNECE, is willing to share its surveying methodologies with all countries in the South-East of Europe and talk with all the authorities in charge that we believe can provide significant added value to this important work: (please see one of the main issues of the RCC and UNECE Project –”reliable statistics through the development of relevant indicators”)

  15. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area

  16. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area Some examples of financial support to women’s entrepreneurship Montenegro Up to 2009, there wasn’t a specific Programme of financing dedicated to the Women Entrepreneurs, but only a governmental programme for grants and loans dedicated to the SMEs in general. During 2008 the Programme financed the following type of investments: • New companies establishment: specific credit line (€ 500.000,00) • Support to companies already existing: specific credit line (€ 4.000.000,00) • Support to the ICT: specific grant (€ 200.000,00) • Green Energy: specific credit line (2.500.000,00)

  17. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area Some examples of financial support to women’s entrepreneurship Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Up to 2008, there was a specific Programme of financing (grants) dedicated to the Women Entrepreneurs During 2008 the Programme financed the following type of investments: • SMEs development: KM 3.900.000 • Loans given by the Bank for Investments: KM 2.000.000 • Support to Innovation: KM 40.000,00 • Female business infrastructures: KM 3.000.000 • Technological processes transfer and quality system protection: KM 80.000 • Craft Chamber’s development: KM 150.000 • Young Entrepreneurs support: KM 350.000 • Support to the new entrepreneurs from GENDER centre: KM 400.000 (The results from 2005 to 2008: 517 project applied, 214 financed)

  18. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area Some examples of financial support to women’s entrepreneurship Croatia From 2004 to 2008 the Croatian Ministry of Economy, Labour and Entrpreneurship Development has supported the women’s entrepreneurship with different financial instruments: • 1655 projects financed for a total amount (grant) of 13.115.229,00 kn • 918 loans (rateof interest: 2% ) for a total amount of 764.703.804,00 kn. During 2008 other 1119 women entrepreneurs were supported with grants connected to other specific project “Poduzetništvo žena i ciljnih skupina-projektnoj aktivnosti A” for a total amount of 8.110.800,00 kn

  19. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area State of affairs in Italy: updated to September 2010 • Women managers of one-man business: Up to 30th June 2010, records showed that women sole traders regularly registered in the Companies House were 862,367 – i.e. 25.6% of all sole traders in Italy. The dynamism of women sole traders within the national production system is clear also when looking at the last 5 year trend. • Women sole traders coming from outside the EU: There are about 52,000 women entrepreneurs of non-EU nationality and their number has grown to over 2000 units (+4.13%) compared to December 2009. Over the analysed period of five years, the number of enterprises has increased by nearly 17,000 units (+ 47.9% compared to June 2005, now representing 6.0% of all women sole traders and 20% of all businesses run by a non-EU person.

  20. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area State of affairs in Italy: update to September 2010 • High percentage of young women entrepreneurs The number of young women sole traders under the age of 30 remains high. There were about 59,000 (6.8% of all enterprises) last June – i.e. +7% compared to men’s enterprises. The most consistent amount of “business chiefs” is represented by women aged between 30 and 49 (49% of all women entrepreneurs, +0.2% compared to 2005).

  21. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area State of affairs in Italy: updated to September 2010 • Excluding sole traders and corporations, the remaining enterprises run by women (companies, cooperatives, consortiums and other forms of businesses) grew by 592 units by the end of 2009, equal to 0.2% compared to 2008. In absolute terms, “pink” cooperatives (+866 units) have performed better then the others. Partnerships, instead, recorded the opposite trend (-711 units). Women’s enterprises sorted by legal status

  22. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area State of affairs in Italy: updated to September 2010 • Women’s enterprises by specific sectors With regards to sole traders (by far the most consistent group), the highest amount (33.3%) operates within the commercial sector. 28.4% operates in the agricultural sector and 10.4% in the sector of other services (from organisations to people’s care to home reparation). With regards to Partnerships, the greatest concentrations are recorded, once again, in the commercial sector (26.7%), in the tourism and hospitality sector (13.3%) and in the manufactory sector (10.9%). Lastly, with regards to cooperatives, the sectors with a greater female presence are those operating in health (15.4%) and support services to enterprises (9.9%).

  23. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area Fonte: Osservatorio dell'imprenditoria femminile, Unioncamere-InfoCamere

  24. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area State of affairs in Italy: updated to September 2010 • Work is increasingly “equal”……. Except for some professions or enterprises operating in specific sectors characterised by a high percentage of men or women workers (e.g. building contractors, metal industry for men, and textile and clothing production, commercial distribution for women), “gender” is increasingly becoming a less discriminating factor when looking for a job. This is the outcome of the latest survey by Excelsior of Unioncamere and the Ministry of Work which outlines the employment forecasts for 2010. In brief, selection by gender is increasingly less significant, both for men and women. At the same time, the amount of jobs for which gender is considered to be irrelevant has increased: 36% in 2003, over 40% in 2010.

  25. AIC Forum – WE state of affairs in Adriatic and Ionian Area State of affairs in Italy: updated to September 2010 • ………Work is increasingly “equal” The general trend, though, changes when the analysis is done profession by profession. The professions where gender is least relevant (80% of the total) are usually high-profile professions (intellectuals, scientists, and highly specialised jobs). This is true also for management positions for which women are considered more suitable only in 4.2% of the cases as labourers, both specialised (3.2% of all jobs go to women versus the 82% that go to men) and semi-qualified workers (7.6% for women versus 62.7% for men). In three cases women are preferred to men: for technical professions (17.4% against 16.2%), administrative jobs (18.8% against 17.6%) and, most of all, for jobs in the commercial and service sectors (29.2 against 11%).

  26. The AIC Forum would like to present a proposal in support of WE within the next SEE Programme - 3rd call for proposal The South East Europe Programme Area includes 16 countries: Albania Austria Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Romania Croatia FYROM Greece Hungary Serbia Montenegro Slovakia Slovenia Moldova Italy (only some of its regions) Ukraine (only some of its regions)

  27. The South East Europe Territorial Cooperation Programme Some news… • This year SEE Annual Conference 2010 is taking place on 21-22 September in Thessaloniki, Greece The conference will provide the right environment to discuss the future of cooperation in the area, as well as to stimulate the development of relevant and innovative projects in South East Europe. It will have the following key objectives: • To promote the SEE Programme and reinforce its role in the area • To stimulate innovative proposals for future strategic co-operation activities • To create an (efficient) dialogue on the topic of development in the Balkans area • To offer networking opportunities and a framework for the exchange of experience for the Programme stakeholders • To stimulate inter-programme(s) dialogue and synergies • To stir project development towards the third call for project proposals

  28. Thank you for your attention! Davide Frulla Contacts: Forum of the Adriatic and Ionian Chambers Ancona Chamber of Commerce – Eu project management and International Cooperation Unit Piazza XXIV Maggio, 1 – 60124 Ancona Phone: +39 071 5898355; Fax: +39 071 5898255 davide.frulla@an.camcom.it

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