On the night of the 9th of March, one day after the International Woman's day, SAMA team participated in the event 'Creating Space for Female Entrepreneurs' at the Impact Hub Amsterdam organized by Know it Name it Love it and Meer Vrouwen in de Politiek. The event had as the main goal to create a network of women working with social entrepreneurship to inspire and help each other grow their businesses.
The event was organized in light of the issues female social entrepreneurs often experience. There is a gender bias in doing business, with fewer female entrepreneurs compared to men and harder access to funding when you are women. Therefore the event focused on sharing experiences with each other to help overcome obstacles, create a network to continue to work together, hire each other and inspire each other. This type of events are very important to promote change in the establishment culture, creating a future with a healthier and fairer environment for all in the business sector.
The night started with an introduction and presentation of the organizers. Know it Name it Love it is an organization specialized in creating custom workshops for schools, universities, NGOs, corporates and community groups, focusing on diversity & inclusion, gender, sexuality, and reproductive justice. Their training are based on quality information, love, respect, and empathy.
The other responsible for the event, Meer Vrouwen in de Politiek, works on informing and engaging more women into politics through coaching, training and network meetings. Marie-Anne van Reijen, the idealizer of the project, has the goal of increasing the visibility of female representatives and to get to the mark of 50% women for every and all functions, from Prime Minister to City Councils to Mayors to Provincial States (this mark nowadays is around 34%).
After the introductions, there were short presentations of 10 female entrepreneurs, pitching their project to the other participants to get feedback and support. Anna Stolyarova, SAMA's founder and director, was one of the speakers, seeking for more local visibility to the project she has developed in Amsterdam Nieuw-West for the last seven years. Anna was accompanied by the team of women responsible for SAMA's functioning: Anne Boermans - manager director, Vitória Zanquetta - collection researcher, and Nina Quax - branding and marketing consultant.
After the pitches, the funding expert Elianne Oei and Co-Founder of Epic Hub, gave each one of the women that pitched for their projects her tailored advice. In her vision, the strategy SAMA has been working on developing an online version of experiencing the collection will be an excellent complement to our existing tours and diversify the pubic. She also suggested the development of a network of influencers and ambassadors to support the museum and give more visibility to the projects we develop. Another suggestion was to invest in crowdfunding campaigns involving local communities, which would be also boosted by the supporting team of influencers and ambassadors. Before the end of the event, there was time for drinks and networking.
The participation in the 'Creating Space for Female Entrepreneurs' provided SAMA's team great insights on new strategies. It was beautiful to see so many women, some with long experience in entrepreneurship and others just giving their first steps into this world, supporting each other through sharing their own knowledge and experiences. Here bellow follows the names and links of all the participants that pitched for their projects so you can know more about them!
Mina Kim, Table for Kimchi: Traditional Korean Kimchi making without the use of plastic and sugar. Workshops to learn the techniques of fermented food.
Dorothy Seguy, SEYE: Social entrepreneur in sustainable fashion interested in creating an online platform to promote awareness and commercialize sustainable brands.
Anne Zwartbol, Kind Rebel: Clothe brand for kids that connects, fashion, storytelling and positive messages.
Johanne Bade, Center for Happy Mamas: A working space in Amsterdam created to welcome mothers to bring their kids to work, providing an environment where mothers can be together with her children and still be productive.
Barbara del Court König & Chanthel Figueroa, AllOne: Festival to celebrate Migration and cultural diversity.
Caitlin Southwick, Ki Culture: A non-profit organization that provides sustainable solutions for the cultural heritage sector.
Luana Ferreira, Stories for a Better World: A movie/documentary reuniting stories from women around the globe, giving them voice and visibility.
Stephanie Jordan, Avallen Spirits: A Calvados, a traditional cider brandy made from apples, produced in Normandy in a sustainable way, focusing on saving the bees.
Hanane Saja, Interpreter & Coach newcomers: Arabic Interpreter and coach with knowledge of four languages and different Arabic dialects looking for more working opportunities.
-- Photos shared by Meer Vrouwen in de Politiek