Female entrepreneurs from sparsely populated areas in the Highlands and Islands are being invited to join delegates from six countries in the last in a series of virtual events this week.
The final W-Power seminar will take place both online and in-person in Joensuu, Karelia, Finland, and feature speakers, workshops and training sessions for delegates to find new collaboration and networking opportunities.
Those attending the three-day event, opening on Tuesday September 28, will be from rural parts of Iceland, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Canada and Scotland.
They will discuss the challenges and opportunities they face running a business in remote areas.
The three-year W-Power programme’s aims were to overcome the challenges of remoteness and rurality faced by women-led businesses in sparsely populated regions.
The programme was established in 2018 by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) as part of the Northern Periphery Arctic (NPA) programme, to help support female entrepreneurs in rural areas.
Seminar offers a ‘fantastic opportunity to network’
In the Highlands and Islands, entrepreneurs from Argyll, Shetland and Orkney have taken part in the initiative.
The seminar itinerary includes presentations from Maija Itkonen, one of the creators of Finnish brand, Pulled Oats, Cheryl Miller Van Dÿck, chairwoman and president of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform (Europe), Marthe Haugland, senior innovation adviser from Nordic Innovations, and Kim Väisänen, an angel investor with an entrepreneurial background.
Kateryna McKinnon, European manager at HIE, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for attendees to network and meet other likeminded participants, find new co-operation opportunities, ideas and customers.
“Although not exclusive to women, the W-Power project is about supporting and empowering women entrepreneurs in rural areas.
“We are really pleased that the programme was able to play an important role in our region during an extremely difficult period and would like to thank all our members for keeping the network active and supporting each other.”