New policy brief on women’s entrepreneurship in Hungary, Transylvania (RO) and Andalusia (ES), co-created with 75+ stakeholders via World Café dialogues, written by Katalin Oborni, Orsolya Gergely and Nieves Garcia Pereira. Five pillars: digital transformation, access to finance, rural & under-represented sectors, invisible care work, and entrepreneurial education.
Why it matters
Women-led businesses face structural barriers — from financing bias to digital skills gaps, weak networks, rural access issues, and the heavy load of unpaid care. These are ecosystem problems, not individual deficits.
Key takeaways
• Digital adoption is uneven — practical, hands-on, hybrid training and mentoring communities are essential.
• Finance needs a stepwise toolkit (micro-loans → seed → VC) plus gender-sensitive literacy & investment-readiness.
• Rural women need localised training, simple micro-grants, mentoring — and childcare support to participate.
• Recognise and offset invisible care work through services and benefits so women can grow their businesses.