• Both organizations agree on asserting that there is no competitiveness without diversity and on the need to generate enabling initiatives.

Barcelona, March 8^th, 2021.- The Catalonian Family Business Association (ASCEF) and the largest European network of business leaders, Netmentora Catalunya, collaborate to propel female entrepreneurship and normalize its involvement in business. For both organizations there is no competitiveness in business without diversity; we should continue to demand that administrations carry out actions that facilitate reconciliation and further an egalitarian education; it is also important to promote female paradigms to overcome restrains and stereotypes enduring in society.

Netmentora Catalunya, a high-impact international business organization that, free of charge, walks entrepreneurs through the process of strengthening their business, has had the initiative of putting together a decalogue to propel and support women entrepreneurs valuing female talent and a different management approach.   This decalogue has been subscribed by ASCEF, which will disseminate the proposal among its associates.

On the other hand, ASCEF, a body consisting of over 100 family businesses representing their own activity lines, has been one of the first business organizations to put into action a work group made up of 30 companies in order to bring about initiatives to help provide exposure for women entrepreneurs, both by sharing personal and business experiences and by favoring their active involvement in the public sector.

According to the head of the ASCEF group “Anem a compartir”, Ana Fisas, “promoting gender equality in entrepreneurship, is not only limited to empowering women by strengthening their capabilities, confidence and leadership, but it also involves generating enabling initiatives and acting proactively towards positive changes for society as a whole.”.

In the opinion of Beatriz de Vicente, Director General of Netmentora Catalunya,“we need more women on the network and more female paradigms within the business world. We want to bring the knowledge and interest of business entrepreneur women, because we think that helping future businesses and making an impact should be based on diversity and equality.”

Based on a variety of studies, the gap between entrepreneur women and men has been narrowing over the last years, although we still fall behind other European nations.

Putting an end to all forms of discrimination is essential for a sustainable development. An adequate management of diversity transforms differences into a source of opportunities in any environment and allows for a responsible management that ensures equality. This is a challenging reality that we should address from an institutional compromise at every process and level.