An entrepreneurship program was launched to support business women
The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) is being launched for the second time to help and empower entrepreneurs once again. After the success of the first entrepreneurship program by AWE, a second program was launched, which received even more interest from a larger cohort of women.
The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has partnered with the United States Embassy to implement the second iteration of this global entrepreneurship program.
The Chamber of Commerce of Malta Enterprise and Industry called a press conference on Tuesday afternoon to announce the launch of the program at the Residence of the United States Embassy. The Charge d’Affaries of the United States Gwendolyn Green welcomed more than 80 women who applied for this program to express their gratitude and their excitement to start the course.
The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) was established in 2019 by the Department of State’s Office of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) to support women and expose them to networking opportunities and knowledge to help them start up business or expand their already established businesses.
AWE is also supporting the US National Strategy for Gender Equity and Equality by giving women the opportunity to participate in the economy.
The President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Marisa Xuereb, expressed that “The Malta Chamber has partnered with the United States Embassy because they know the fundamental role that women in business can play for – economic growth and the development of their well-being.”
AWE is in nearly 90 countries and has helped more than 16,000 women entrepreneurs to develop them into better business women.
AWE also carried out an evaluation in 2021 which revealed that 74% of women who complete the program earn more money in their business and 29% employ more people. Also, over 90% of AWE graduates say they gained more confidence from the skills they acquired.
“I am incredibly proud to launch this global entrepreneurship program in Malta for the second consecutive year after the great success of last year’s program,” said Green.
“Women entrepreneurs like you are a growing market force and have a critical role to play in building dynamic and innovative economies. This is the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs,” added Green.
This year AWE will be welcoming over 80 women who have applied for the US State Department AWE 2022. The program is free for these women and is fully funded by the US state department.
Women were selected for this program based on their responses in the application process. Target participants must have a post-secondary education level or higher and must be women approximately 25 years of age or older. These women do not have to be established business people but can be anything from someone who aspires to start a business to someone who has just started a business.
During this course, the women will have the opportunity to compete against each other to try to run the best business plan they can, using the knowledge they have gained from the program. The winners of this competition will be eligible for Seed funding for their businesses which is also funded by the US state department. First place will receive $10,000 and second place will receive $5,000.
The program starts next Monday September 5th with a physical session of about 3 hours and these sessions will continue until November 7th. Before the last session where they will present their business plan, they will also experience a speed mentoring session where the women will have the opportunity to seek knowledge from experienced businessmen. They also have 13 online sessions to attend in their own time until October 17th.
They emphasized the importance of holding these physical sessions this year to further promote networking.