The councillors of the Presidency, Public Function and Equality, Mercedes Garrido, and of Finance and Foreign Relations, Rosario Sánchez, inaugurated the Congress of Women Entrepreneurs, organised by the Government together with the Balearic Women’s Institute, ISBA and the chambers of commerce to commemorate the three years of Dona Impuls, a programme that provides advice to women who want to set up a business.

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Garrido took stock of this period, which she described as a success, given that the service has helped almost 1,000 women, of whom 500 have completed the business plan and of these, 87 have set up a company. “A service is a tool for the transformation of our society: it favours the presence of women in the economic sphere and transforms, step by step, the different productive sectors”, said the Councillor.

Furthermore, she pointed out that the 87 women who have their businesses up and running “are an example for many girls and young women, who are currently studying and do not know which path to take, or who have a hobby or an idea that they would like to work on, but do not have the necessary knowledge to carry it out”.

On her part, the Councillor for Finance and External Relations, Rosario Sánchez, explained ISBA’s involvement in this Congress and the aid for female entrepreneurs. She also explained the most important points of the 2023 budgets, both in the part corresponding to the social shield and the improvement of the productive fabric, and concluded with the opportunity that the REIB tax regime represents, encouraging the attendees to make use of all the opportunities that the Government makes available to them to strengthen their business or start a new one.

The programme consists of helping women entrepreneurs to prepare their business idea through a business plan and to learn about its economic viability from an expert consultant. This process lasts approximately five weeks. To achieve this, a systematised, objective and ad hoc methodology has been developed under the umbrella of a business plan designed for this purpose. During the consultancy, which has been carried out by means of telephone interviews, face-to-face and online meetings, detailed information has been obtained on the profile of the entrepreneur, her management model and her competitors, among other points.

In addition, they are informed of the current procedures for starting their business with individual or group sessions. They can also register with Social Security as self-employed. And last but not least, they can be advised on the main public subsidies and access to financing, both public and private.

On their part, the interested parties undertake to work on a draft business model; to provide the necessary economic data for the preparation of the economic-financial plan and to follow the guidelines, procedures and specifications indicated by the technician to develop the business plan or to register with the Social Security.

Unlike other programmes, Dona Impuls works with women who intend to start a business in the next few years or who have done so in the last year and need to put their business idea in order.

According to the study of the three years presented by the head of the service, Catalina Barceló, the basic characteristics of the women who have accessed the programme were: being unemployed or ERTE, being rural women with experience in agriculture, livestock or first transformation but with no knowledge of business management, being victims of gender violence and despite this maintaining their entrepreneurial spirit, or being young women with a business idea but with no knowledge of the first steps to make their project a reality.

In general, the average age of these women is 45 years old, and they are mainly involved in catering and hospitality, consultancy, training, wellbeing, tourism, trade and fashion and textile industry, art, marketing and communication and general services. Two out of three businesses need financing and the median loan amounts to around €30,000.

The Congress, in which more than 300 registered participants are taking part, continues throughout the day with a round table on enthusiasm and innovation, the inspiring conference by Gloria Lorenzana, founder of The T Project, the ISBA round table on financing for women entrepreneurs and the round table with the island councils on good practices for women entrepreneurs.