TOGETHER WE ARE STRONG !

THE BUSINESS WOMEN CENTRE

Issue

The Business Women Centre (‘Businessfrauencenter’, bfc) in Austria provides sustainable, tailor-made support targeted at the specific needs of female entrepreneurs and based on networking and long-term contacts with its customers.

Institution

The Business Women Centre was opened in Vienna in 1997 by the Ministry for Women as an information centre for female start-ups providing financial advice and consultancy. Meanwhile, the Business Women Centre is a private association financed on the basis of membership fees, fees for the services provided as well as funding mainly received from the Ministry for Social Security and Generations. Currently, three contact points of the Business Women Centre exist: in Vienna, in Graz and in Klagenfurt. The services supplied at each contact point range from support for start-ups and information to advice and consultancy, training, and networking. They are quite similar at each contact point differing only slightly in detail.

Content

The networking character of the Business Women Centre should guarantee a comprehensive support to its customers. As most of the female entrepreneurs in Austria are sole proprietors, the exchange of experience with other members of the centre is considered as very important. The network of the Business Women Centre allows female entrepreneurs to establish contacts with competent partners, to revert to the experience of other entrepreneurs, to benefit from the motivation in the group, and to contact potential cooperation partners and customers. The members of the network can join the monthly network meetings and get 25 % discount when participating in workshops or coaching provided by the Centre. All network members get the possibility to present their business on the bfc-homepage and in the bfc-newsletter free of charge.

The coaching programme of the Business Women Centre is adapted to each customer individually. The respective female entrepreneurs define objectives, which they would like to reach within the coaching sessions. In order to provide a well focussed and efficient coaching, the female entrepreneurs receive a list of relevant questions and checklists for preparation. If required, coaching may also take place by telephone or e-mail.

An overall training is offered by the Business Women Centre, which lasts about 6 months. The training course includes personal management, business orientation, marketing, as well as the acquisition of and contact with customers. The participants of the course develop their own business concepts and action plans in a group, which should encourage team building and networking among the female entrepreneurs. The participation is limited to 12 persons in order to ensure intensive and personal care. To evaluate the benefits of the training and to improve regularly the supply of the services offered, half a year after each training course a meeting with the customers of the centre takes place to discuss the effects of the training on the female entrepreneurs. In April 2002, the third training course was started.

Performance

The performance of the Business Women Centre in Vienna is documented in the success figures of the institution. In 2001 more than 200,000 inquiries via Internet were made. This represented an increase of daily inquiries from 82 in December 2000 to more than 1,000 in December 2001. Over 3,000 newsletters were sent to interested parties and 271 (potential) female entrepreneurs have been advised in the scope of 28 bfc-events, another 13 events with 260 participants were co-organised by the Business Women Centre. The Business Women Centre has also initiated a widespread promotion in the leading media of Austria. Almost all daily newspapers as well as magazines and the television have reported on the Centre indicating a high level of recognition of the bfc among its potential customers in Austria.