Following previous successful editions of the Luxembourg-Poland Business Club’s Entrepreneurial Women Project, the 4th edition started on 30 September; building up on the model from previous editions, the cycles of eight one-hour workshops were spread over six Saturdays and ended on 11 November.
This initiative has been carefully crafted to support women in developing their business ideas and to maximize their learning experience in a comfortable and open environment.
This year's initiative was another success: 29 women in Luxembourg completed the intensive series of workshops held over the last 2 months structured to give them all the necessary information and tools to start a business.
The workshops were held at The Office, an inspiring and creative co-working space located in Luxembourg city. The programme leveraged a network of external speakers who provided information and support with enthusiasm and drive. The training covered the various aspects of starting a business, such as Business Entities, Business Plan generation, Marketing, VAT and Taxes, to other aspects such as Project Management, building a team, how to work with your investors and clients and included more personal coaching in order to be confident and to succeed.
Unique personal stories that’s driving the vision of the future
The participants came from a wide variety of backgrounds with 19 different nationalities represented. Some have been living in Luxembourg for over a decade, others newcomers, each of them looking to learn the techniques and support to start their own businesses, generate ideas and to realise their dream. This year saw a wide variety of ideas ranging from importing garments and accessories, made-to-measure clothes, marketing and PA services, pet care, healthy food delivery, to youth clubs and some great mobile applications, to name but a few.
The participants brought a wealth of innovative ideas and a great energy to the weekly sessions.
The gala final, held at the impressive Arendt House in Kirchberg, saw Tina Radford present the winning entry, ‘Gweek’ a mobile application designed to improve communication and presentation skills, based on machine learning to analyse and quantify how effectively people communicate.
“I am passionate about this product” said Radford, “it is already in use with major global brands and I am excited to bring this to Luxembourg where we can empower women to communicate effectively and give them a personal coach on their smartphone who is always available for any situation”.
Gweek matches the power of sophisticated voice analytics with instant feedback on your communication, presentation style and effectiveness. Thanks to the success of this program Tina is now developing and marketing “gweek” in Luxembourg.
“The support, help and guidance from the Luxembourg-Poland Business Club team has been exceptional” said Radford, “and this programme is a great example of the help available in Luxembourg to drive new ideas and entrepreneurship.”
“We have had another exceptional year with great ideas and energy on show” said Artur Sosna, Luxembourg-Poland Business Club Chairman. “The quality of women entrepreneurs on this program exemplifies the drive and energy that is available here in Luxembourg and the feedback from our event attendees has been very positive”.
Natalie Browne was awarded second prize for the Healthy Foods, a system for “healthy food” delivery services. “As we got to know each other and present our business ideas we gained confidence and support in an interesting, engaging and fun environment” said Natalie Browne.
Séréna Boukelmoun received third prize for developing the Smart Fridge App. “I liked the format, with training on areas like Business Entities, Business Model Canvas and Marketing, which really helped frame my business venture” said Séréna Boukelmoun, “the benefit of this helped me present my idea and I was really pleased to be awarded third prize during the awards ceremony.”
