Overview
The following set of exercises offers a structured workshop scenario that you can implement within 4 hours. Since women’s entrepreneurship might be one of the most powerful tools to support economic empowerment of women, we chose this topic as a central idea for the educative part.
Firstly the participants should become familiar with the content of the article since the exercises stem from the information contained therein. The workshop scenario leads participants step by step through development of an entrepreneurial idea. The participants get familiar with Jane and her family and throughout the workshop they help Jane to develop a business idea to gain practical skills which they might use for their own entrepreneurial activity or for a better understanding of entrepreneurship as a tool leading to women’s economic empowerment.
Objectives
- to make participants aware of the barriers and limits that women face when becoming an entrepreneur and find strategies how to overcome them;
- to empower the participants with new skills and knowledge facilitating development of a business idea
- to enhance participants´ analytical and presentation skills
Materials
- Worksheets
- Flipchart, markers, post-its
- eventually computers with presentation software
Time
- 1/ Icebreaker (10 min.)
- 2/ Introduction to the workshop: objectives and expected results (10 min.)
- 3/ Meet Jane!: reading in groups (10 min.)
- 4/ Three steps to success
- Come up with the business idea (30 min.)
- Map the environment: micro and macro factors (30 min.)
- Propose the value for your customer: your customer (30 min.), value proposition (30 min.)
- 5/ Pitch your business idea (60 min.)
- 6/ Reflection (30 min.)
Group size
6-20 participants
Instructions for trainers
- First introduce the participants into the topic and explain them the overall idea of the workshop – helping Jane to become a successful entrepreneur.
- Divide participants into groups of 3-5 persons.
- Let the participants read the introduction and get familiar with Jane and her situation.
- Follow the instructions written below by particular exercises.
Debriefing and evaluation
Allow at least 30 min. for final debriefing and reflection. Follow the instructions and questions written in the final part.
Tips for trainers
Challenges that might occur:
The participants might have different level of knowledge and skills regarding the topic. Therefore, it is advisable to assess it beforehand and make sure that the groups are divided accordingly (pair more experienced with less experienced participants).
