Women at the start: Female founders wanted

·      The six-month programme offered by IU International University of Applied Sciences and its cooperation partners is aimed at women who are interested in starting a business.

·      Experts and successful female founders will provide assistance for women in live workshops, feedback sessions and webinars.

·      The application deadline for the online programme "How to become a Female Founder" is January 26, 2022.

Erfurt, January 4th, 2022. Female founders are still the exception rather than the rule in Germany. To support them, IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) has launched the online programme "How to become a Female Founder" together with its partners. After a successful launch last year, it will enter its second round on February 2nd, 2022, with an expanded range of events. This year, the focus of the programme is on sustainable founding. Women interested in starting a business are encouraged to apply for the free online programme by January 26, 2022.

The six-month "How to become a Female Founder" programme is a joint initiative of IU, Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT), Strascheg Center for Entrepreneurship (SCE) and StartinFOOD, all of which have joined forces in the Food Start-up Inkubator Weihenstephan (FSIWS). The programme is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection and its EXIST program - "Start-ups from the Economy."

With the programme, which is explicitly tailored to female founders, the FSIWS wants to help raise the visibility of women with innovative business ideas and increase the number of female founders. At 84 percent, there are still significantly more male company founders in Germany than female ones.

"Female founders receive less capital because potential investors often rate women lower. However, studies show that female founders generate higher revenues on average and that women tend to found start-ups in socially relevant areas such as healthcare. They also focus more often on social and sustainable business models. That's why I think more female founders are needed," says Prof. Dr. Alexandra Wuttig, IU Chancellor and Professor of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Law.

The female founders can exchange ideas, encourage each other, and make important contacts during "How to become a Female Founder". Above all, they will be equipped with the necessary knowledge and individually accompanied by experts from areas such as entrepreneurship, start-up investment, start-up and management consulting, media and marketing or law and finance. In regular workshops, feedback and question rounds via Zoom, as well as recorded webinars, participants will learn everything they need to know about start-up-related topics such as funding, legal principles, self-presentation and marketing. They will also receive valuable tips and insights for their path to self-employment. On the final "Pitch Day", they will have the opportunity to present their ideas or start-ups to the experts.

The full programme of "How to become a Female Founder" is available here .

Applications can be sent to this address: info@we-female-founders.de