Entrepreneurial Herstory
Description: The “Entrepreneurial Herstory” project aims to enhance the entrepreneurial mindset among young entrepreneurs. It focuses on identifying role models away from toxic gendered stereotypes and values. This will be achieved by giving minorities and underrepresented communities a voice to express their stories and unfold their memoirs in terms of unconventional entrepreneurship. The project’s objectives will be met by capacity building of the partner organisations, associated partners and stakeholders.
Country: Cyprus
Category/Topic: Education, Entrepreneurship and Business
Target Audience: The target group of Entrepreneurial Herstory is composed of:
– Youth workers/trainers and educators;
– Youth Organisations related to entrepreneurship;
– NGOs & CSOs that are key players in creating the conditions for the realisation of human rights and the transformation to a fair society for everyone with equal opportunities in education and labour; as well as NGOs that promote equality and diversification;
– Women who want to engage in entrepreneurship but that belong to an underrepresented community and have been overshadowed by social constructs and limitations;
– Young people whose dreams have been the victims of intersectional discrimination by society;
– Young people with ethnic backgrounds and ethnic characteristics, refugees, asylum seekers and migrants;
– LGBTQI+ people and anyone who is non-heterosexual or non-cisgender;
– People with visible or physical disabilities, people with vision impairment, deaf or hard of hearing, autism, etc.
Objectives: To present the value of positive representation for underrepresented communities in entrepreneurship;
To scrutinise on challenges that women entrepreneurs in underrepresented communities face in partners’ national contexts;
To present the theoretical framework of intersectionality;
To investigate how the psychology of failure and success can play a significant role in entrepreneurship; and
To prove that failure is a part of every role model’s success story.
To increase the visibility of women entrepreneurs who belong to underrepresented communities, such as refugees, migrants, LGBTQ, including those with disabilities;
To fight stereotypes about these women’s background, skills and competencies;
To empower LGBTQ women, and women of ethnic background, including those with disabilities, to become entrepreneurs through quality Role models away from detrimental gendered entrepreneurial values;
To help everyone foster essential soft skills that women entrepreneurs from marginalised backgrounds have;
To update the pedagogical material of Youth organisations with a more gamified educational approach;
To help potential entrepreneurs get acquainted with entrepreneurial concepts and theories through vivid examples of their practical implications.
To present examples of women entrepreneurs that belong to underrepresented and marginalised communities and how they became successful regardless of the challenges they faced;
To help professionals in the youth sector improve their skills on how to train future entrepreneurs to transform their challenges into success;
To transform youth into successful entrepreneurs extolling the virtues of learning from failure as a valuable teacher;
To raise awareness on the advantages of learning from failure in the youth sector and start recognising challenges as part of a learning process to a success story;
To introduce a framework of principles related to the above points within an inclusive e-Learning Module
Outcomes/Results: The project will produce the first-ever Guidebook on entrepreneurship inspired by women entrepreneurs in underrepresented communities that will be delivered in 4 Podcast episodes, as well as a Serious Game which will work as informative and educational material for everyone who wants to engage in unconventional entrepreneurship. Finally, the project will conclude this sequence of OERs with an e-Learning Module that includes a Mini DocuSeries on Intersectionality in Entrepreneurship aimed at YWs.
Impact: The project is expected to update educational material in the field of Entrepreneurship, increase understanding of inclusiveness and why it is so important for economic growth and social cohesion. We anticipate increased awareness in the Youth Sector on how positive representation can contribute to updating socio-economic standards of underrepresented communities by transforming them into an integral part of entrepreneurship. Additionally, the project is expected to update Youth Training opportunities in an inclusive, yet entertaining way, increase understanding of how documentary filmmaking can be beneficial in the Youth Sector; particularly, in youth work and social injustice, and how these can be intertwined with entrepreneurial growth and active participation.
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