BPWI and THE CENTER of WOMEN LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS in SOUTH

EASTERN EUROPE

Arzu ÖZYOLBPW-TURKEY

In July 1919, the women advocate Lena Madesin Phillips established a first Business and Professional Women Club in the USA in an effort to spread her ideas of women’s equality, especially in economic playing fields with men.

Lena Madesin Phillips travelled to Europe in two times known as the “Goodwill Tours” in 1928 and 1929 in order to discuss with professional and business women for the possibility of starting a club in European countries.

The International Federation of Business and Professional Women was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, on August 26, 1930, by Dr.Lena Madesin Phillips together with Austria, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy and the United States of America.

NEVER FORGET HER….

• Lena Madesin Phillips never stopped working until the end of her life who died while traveling to the Middle East to meet with women.

We always honour our rich legacy that is contributed by

the great women like Dr Lena Madesin Philips, Esther

Hymer, Helvi Sipila, Beryl Nashar, Claire Fulcher, Litvia Ricci, Antoinette Ruegg and

all the past international presidents we had.

After 95 years from the first step has been taken by Lena Madison Phillips; the reality of providing equality in economic life bring about the gender equality at all levels of life has been acknowledged globally.

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PRINCIPLESThe Women Empowerment Principles which offer guidance to companies on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community, were developed by a collaboration between the the United Nations Global Compact and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) under the consultancy of different stakeholders including BPW International.

In June 2011, International President Freda Mirikles has been called out all business and professional women in order to increase number of women in workplaces, market places and communities worldwide with the catch phrase of this trinneum: Empowered Women Leading Business - from the top, at all levels and in the communities in which we serve and live.

Promoting gender equality through the partnerships among different organisations is very important to accelerate the efforts that are given in order to secure gender equality all over the World.

In this triennium, there is a tremendous efforts to bring more women into the business environment through the important partnerships with different organisations and institutions such as UNGC, ILO, IOE, ITC, APEC and many others.

THE CENTER of Women Leadership in BUSINESS IN South Eastern Europe

BPWI &

UNESCO CENTER for PEACE and

WOMEN

WHY WOMEN ENTRPRENEURSHIP?• Self-employed women strengthen their

position in the household and so they serve for achieving gender equality from the top, at all levels and in the communities in which we serve and live.

•Women who are socio-economically strengthened play a serious role in reducing inter-regional differences and so they serve sustainable development and peace more than men.

CHALLENGES for WOMEN ENTRPRENEURSHIP• Even though female entrepreneurship and

the formation of women business networks are steadily rising, there are a number of challenges and obstacles that female entrepreneurs face.

Entrepreneurship is still considered as a male-dominated field, and it may be difficult to surpass these conventional views.

Women entrepreneurs often have a difficult time to assemble external resources.

MoU has been signed among the President of BPWI Freda Mirikles and the President of Hellenic Unesco and President of UNESCO Peace and Women Center in Balkan Region Ketty Tzitzikosta in Athens for to establish Center of Women Leadership in Business in the Southeastern Europe.

UNESCO Peace and Women Center in Balkan Region• The Center is a non-governmental, non-

profit organization acting for the benefit of women and disseminating actively the United Nations resolutions aiming at promoting peace, the respect of human rights, women's advancement and their increased participation in development.

The Center encourages the respect of biological and cultural diversity, promotes the intercultural dialogue, and helps disseminating the values of the culture of peace through the projects that are promoting the respect of human life, of women's dignity, of liberty, justice, solidarity, tolerance and democracy.

 

THE MISSION OF THE CENTER• By motivating women of the region

through the strong cooperation between «Unesco Center for Women and Peace» and «BPWI» in order to baffle squeezing of national cultures within a broader popular culture; to create links between the countries in South Eastern Europe to Global Economy and to erase the bloody history.

PRIORITIES of the CENTER

• To empower the women who are living in the south Eastern Europe

• To meet them relevant target markets

• To provide technical supports in order to reach available funds.

• To make researches in order to enable implementations of the gender policies at grass root levels,

• To become Gender Research Center and/or Women Incubator by time.

• To run common projects within these countries,

• To baffle squeezing of national cultures within a broader popular culture and create intercultural understanding,

• To strength the role of women in business life by the way of creating links between the target countries to Global Economy.

To establish new and dynamic BPW Clubs through the region.

The 1st International Event of the Center, 2012

International Conference for WEP’s in May 2011, we have many speakers from BPWI; President of BPWI Liz Benham; 1st President of BPWI Freda Miriklis; Past President of BPWI Antoinette Ruegg; Past President of BPWI Tuulikki Jusela

SPEAKERS• Freda Miriklis / President of

International Federation of Business and Professional Women

Lauren Gula from UNGCVanessa Eogbogbo from ITCKetty Tzitzikosta from Hellenic Unesco

In the 2nd Day of the 2nd International Conference, there were workshops to increase capacities of women vendors in tourism, construction, health, textile sectors in the framework of WEPs Principle 5…

And many guests from different BPW Clubs and other

organisations all over the World

The second 2-days long international event to discuss the «Women Empowerment Principles» with the valuable participation of relevant stakeholders such as NGO Leaders, academicians, member of parliaments and bureaucrats from different countries in April 2012 in Ankara.

The Colloboration of two BPW Initiatives In 14 - 16 November 2013, In 8th BPW Danube Net Businesswomen Forum in Sofia/Bulgaria, we have reacheda mutual understanding for to collaborate in order to follow through

WHAT IS DANUBE NET?BPW Danube Net is the network for business women in the Danube countries which was established in order to promote intensive networking among business women who are active in the Danube countries.

2nd International Event of the Center, 2014: The joint effort for women entrpreneurship“B to B” is co-organized by the Center of Women Leadership of Business and BPW-Danube Net under the high patronage of BPW International and UNESCO Center for Women and Peace in the Balkan Countries in 4th of April,2014 in İstanbul.

WE ARE VERY BIG FAMILY..

The GOAL of the EVENT

• Encouraging “business to business relations” among women entrepreneurships and increasing the number of women entrepreneurs in the “supply chains” of buyers.

WHY MORE WOMEN IN SUPPLY CHAINS? • According to the 5th Principle, the main

goal is expanding business relationships with women-owned enterprises including small businesses and women entrepreneurs.

Since the supply chain consists of many businesses operating together, including woman vendors to the supply chain management is very important for the women to be able to cooperate with different businesses and increase their business capacities.

In the first part of the Conference, there were three important panels. In the 1st and 2nd panels, the importance of international networks was discussed.

Thank you for the representatives of International Trade Center (ITC), World Bank International Finance Center, European Union Strategy Development Center for Danube Region, Istanbul Chamber of Industry, TR Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization, Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation and Özyeğin University.

And many thanks for the representatives of our co-organisers BPW Danube Net, the Center of Women Leadership in Business for South Eastern Europe and the UNESCO Center for Peace and Women in Balkan Region as well for your very valuable contributions.

In the 3rd Panel, we had a chance to listen experiences of successful women entrepreneurs, Consul General of Romania, Consul General of France….

In the 2nd part of the Conference; Croatian, Serbians, Turkish and Italian women entrepreneurs from the sectors of textile, food, construction and tourism sectors made meetings under the coordination of professional facilitators.