Entrepreneurship toolkit
A practical toolkit was developed to help girls and women navigate entrepreneurial learning in accessible steps.
Completed · November 2024
Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship
About this exchange
Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship was an Erasmus+ KA210 small-scale partnership (project number 2023-1-DE04-KA210-YOU-000165233) coordinated by Highlights e.V. with Debatni Club Grada Nisha (Serbia) and Karya Kadin Dernegi (Turkey). The project period ran from September 2023 to November 2024 and set out to promote entrepreneurship among girls and young women aged 16–30, addressing barriers such as limited access to education and entrepreneurial training.
Partners strengthened organisational capacity, trained youth workers and educators, researched participant needs, and created a practical toolkit for female entrepreneurship. Delivery included an online kick-off, a five-day training course hosted by Karya Kadin Dernegi in Silivri, Istanbul, a Female Founder Festival in Germany with 35+ participants, comparative desk research across the three countries, and a published implementation report. Selected durable toolkit, report, and research outputs are linked under Project Resources.
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OBJECTIVES
What we set out to achieve
- Promote entrepreneurship among girls and young women aged 16–30 facing barriers to education and business training
- Strengthen partner organisations’ capacity to design initiatives that build entrepreneurial competencies
- Train youth workers and educators to deliver practical activities that empower girls and women
- Research needs and create a user-friendly toolkit for female entrepreneurship
- Build a consortium network for continued collaboration and future projects
ACTIVITIES
Planned activities
Online kick-off
Partners in Germany, Serbia, and Turkey opened the KA210 partnership with an online Zoom kick-off covering roles, communication and visibility, monitoring and evaluation, finance, risk, and early drafts of the toolkit and training course.
Training course in Türkiye
A five-day training course hosted by Karya Kadın Derneği in Silivri, Istanbul, built entrepreneurial competencies for youth workers supporting girls and women with fewer opportunities, including stereotype-challenge activities, reporting practice, and reflection.
Female Founder Festival and local workshops
A three-day Female Founder Festival in Germany brought together 35+ young female founders and aspirants with speakers and mentors (supported by FAU, EELISA, and DTA), and closed with a focus group on the Empowering Women toolkit; related local workshop formats ran across the partnership.
Desk research on women in entrepreneurship
Partners compiled comparative insight on challenges, opportunities, and support ecosystems for women entrepreneurs in Germany, Türkiye, and Serbia.
Toolkit for the entrepreneur journey
Partners developed an open toolkit combining theory and practice to help girls and women navigate entrepreneurship step by step.
Mid-term meeting and reporting
Partners reviewed progress mid-project and documented implementation in a comprehensive project report.
KEY RESULTS
What we aimed for
Cross-border training and workshops
The partnership delivered a Türkiye training course, the Female Founder Festival in Germany, and related local workshop formats across Germany, Türkiye, and Serbia.
Country research summary
Desk research summarised barriers (including finance and stereotypes) and named national support examples across the three partner countries.
Implementation report
Partners documented the overall project implementation in a comprehensive public report.
Stronger organisational capacity
Partner organisations aimed to strengthen competencies in creativity, teamwork, problem-solving, and innovation for women’s entrepreneurship work.
PROJECT RESOURCES
Resources & outputs
- Toolkit
Entrepreneurship toolkit
Open toolkit combining theory and practice to help girls and young women navigate entrepreneurship step by step.
- Report
Comprehensive implementation report
Public report documenting overall Empowering Women through Entrepreneurship project implementation.
- Research
Challenges, opportunities and best practices
Comparative desk research on women in entrepreneurship across Germany, Türkiye, and Serbia.
Photo gallery
Delivered with
- Debatni Club Grada Nisha — Serbia
- Karya Kadin Dernegi — Turkey
