Meet Celina Sadijo from the FEM-START Team!
Meet Marieke Siemerink from the FEM-START Team! Hi Celina! We’re thrilled to be chatting with you today. Could you share a little bit about yourself?
When you start a business, you might find your dreams and funding needs are bigger than your purse strings. And that’s ok because the next step is to figure out how you can fill in the purse with the right funding types. And while government grants and subsidies are not the first source of funding that comes into your mind first, we’d like to emphasize in this article why government funding has benefits and how you can leverage it to grow your venture.
When it comes to government support, female founders have different needs than their male counterparts. And that is something we tackled in our latest webinar: “How to get access to funding – for female founders”, where Yeni Joseph, Head of Govt. and Public Affairs at TNO, guided us through some insights into that:
“If you look at the entrepreneurial and tech ecosystem, the government needs to put more effort into understanding how female entrepreneurs’ needs differ from those of their male counterparts”. This is an active role any public entity should play in approaching female founders, seeing where they are, and supporting them.
“Opposite to the male perspective, female founders are eager to know more about mentoring opportunities, get answers to those “how to” questions on internationalization, role models who have successfully obtained public funds and in general understand what kind of support there is out there”.
Given that less than 2% of female founders manage to raise capital, the role of government support is a must to bridge the gap between funding resources and female entrepreneurs. And that is something we aim at FEM-START, to reduce the funding gap for women entrepreneurs.
With grants, as with everything else, there is not only sun and rays of sunshine and there are disadvantages, but at the same time, there are advantages.
If you still wonder if a grant is the right funding option, these are resources that are available to entrepreneurs regardless of their business stage and industry. Definitely, some industries are preferred in terms of grants awarded. Some industries where most public investment goes can include technology-related products, agriculture, social impact, and sustainability among others. Nonetheless, this doesn’t mean your product or service cannot be covered by a public grant or that you cannot partner with other companies to apply jointly for a grant. So, where do you start?
And if you are an entrepreneur based in the Netherlands, you can always check the website of Impact City, which is an organization from The Hague area supporting startups and impact makers with resources and opportunities to move their ideas forward.
Government grants and subsidies are among the most common public funds a female founder can get access to and as Marian Spier, co-founder at FEM-START, mentions in our latest webinar, “Women do not ask for funding as they feel they might be begging for money” and as a reviewer herself in some of these grants “there aren’t enough women entrepreneurs applying for these funds”. So, what are you waiting for?
Do you need more tips on how to get started with government funding? Get one of our memberships, and you’ll get access to an expert network that can support you.
Meet Marieke Siemerink from the FEM-START Team! Hi Celina! We’re thrilled to be chatting with you today. Could you share a little bit about yourself?
Meet Lulu Skantze: Founder of StoryTime, the magazine made for your children to learn through the power of story-telling! Hello Susanne! We’re thrilled to be
Meet Marieke Siemerink from the FEM-START Team! Hi Marieke! We’re thrilled to be chatting with you today. Could you share a little bit about
Meet Lulu Skantze: Founder of StoryTime, the magazine made for your children to learn through the power of story-telling! Hello Susanne! We’re thrilled to be
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Join our new free 2-month training, sponsored by Rabobank! Starting on the 6th of May and running until the end of June in Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Rotterdam.
The enthusiasm for this training program is high and it’s full at the moment. If you’re interested or you have any questions, please contact us via info@fem-start.com!