Only just under 20 percent of all startup founders are women - something absolutely has to be done about this imbalance, say Linda Mühlbach and Carina Volk. The two academic staff members, who work in the area of startup promotion at HNU, therefore initiated an event format in cooperation with StartupSÜD that focused on the development of female startup personalities: The "Superwomen - Female Empowerment Workshop" invited women interested in founding a company with an interactive program to benefit from the experiences of established female founders and encouraged them to pursue their own goals and dreams. The event was supported by the Friends of HNU.
True empowerment: workshop with input from close, inspiring role models
"What we need to get more women into the startup scene are role models - great, approachable role models," Linda Mühlbach explained in her welcoming remarks. "Women who are right in front of us and impress us with their passion." The project team had therefore invited two of these women to the Founders Space and the Innovation Space at HNU: Rebecca Bregant, herself an HNU alumna and founder of the social startup PineBerry - an everything-as-a-service platform for local energy supply in Africa - and Dani König, who launched chinkilla, a women-led brand for female empowerment combined with martial arts. In their keynote speeches, the two founders spoke openly about their very personal start-up journey "from the scratch" and told of stumbling blocks and obstacles as well as aha moments and experiences of success. At the same time, they gave their listeners concrete "power tools" and food for thought ("Have the courage to do something! Make mistakes! Get support!"). One important tip from the two experienced female entrepreneurs: don't get too comfortable. "The comfort zone is like Netflix and cocoa in rainy weather," Dani König explained. "Get out of it and be bold. It's never the 'right' time to realize ideas and start up."
Safe space sessions, "courage boards" and self-defense
The next program item held the expertise of another successful female founder: Anouk Harde, co-founder of the intelligent and sustainable coaching app onesome, offered participants an input session on "Active Listening" and the opportunity to share their personal experiences directly and confidentially in a protected space ("Safe Space Sessions") within the Female Community in smaller groups. Creativity was then called for: the participants were encouraged to gain a greater awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses, and were able to incorporate the insights gained into a self-designed "courage board" under the guidance of Janine Anderson - research associate for user experience design at HNU. Last but not least, things got combative once again: under the motto "Self-confidence - you are both physically and mentally stronger than you think!" Dani König gave a crash course in self-defense before the empowerment workshop came to a close with finger food and networking talks. The conclusion of all participants: an all-around successful, inspiring workshop. "You could literally feel the positive energy released in the room," summed up Linda Mühlbach. "It was great to see how the participants opened up and left their comfort zone in this familiar and intimate living room atmosphere."
Contact persons at HNU
Linda Mühlbach (opens in a new window)
Carina Volk (opens in a new window)
