What is the fe:male network?

The fe:male network links current and potential female entrepreneurs across Europe, providing a forum where women can trade products and services across Europe, as well as exchange ideas and experiences, learn from each other, and give and receive help and support. We hope that this interaction with peers will encourage women to start up their own business or help them to develop their current business.

Who can join?

The FE:MALE network aims at providing a platform for women entrepreneurs of all age groups and any background across Europe. It doesn’t matter if you are currently only thinking about starting your own business or if you have already been working as self-employed for many years. All current and potential female entrepreneurs are welcome! We particularly welcome women facing an extra disadvantage to setting up a business, such as being from a BAME background, disabled or a lone parent to the network

What are the benefits?

• Meet other women across Europe to network, trade and share experiences
• Find new markets and opportunities to expand your business across Europe
• Find Mentors across Europe to support you as you start up or develop your business
• Swap skills and services to help you expand your business by signing up for “SkillSwap” when registering. For example, give an hour of your time as a life skills coach to a web designer in Italy, and receive an hours worth of web design expertise in return.
• Access online tools and resources to support you in your business growth (available from June 2012)
• Find out about training and networking opportunities for business women in your country and receive discounts on events organised by fe:male partners (events and offers will differ between countries).

How does it work?

When you register with fe:male you will set up your own profile which looks like this: click here to see the example.

From here you can share information about your business, connect with other women on the site, join interest groups and see what other members are up to through their status updates.

Completing your profile will also ensure that you appear in our business directory, ‘Connect in Europe’. In this section of the site you can search for other members by name, industry or country and can connect with them in order to trade and expand your market across Europe.

You can also find members who have signed up to SkillSwap, a service which helps you expand or develop your business by swapping products or services which you need with someone else. For example, give an hour of your time as a life skills coach to a web designer in Italy, and receive an hours worth of web design expertise in return.

Fe:male also aims to support women setting up or developing their business by linking them with current entrepreneurs who can provide advice and guidance during critical times. If you would like to connect with a mentor on the site you can search for a suitable contact who is registered as a mentor via the business directory. If you are an experience business woman and would like to register as a mentor, please do this when registering so potential mentees can find you. (Please note that fe:male do not match mentors/mentees and all initial and subsequent contact must be initiated by individual members. We do not take responsibility for advice given by mentors through the site.)

On the website it says that the network will be free of charge until September 2012. What will happen after this date?

Thanks to funding by the European Commission, membership will be free until September 2012. After this date, the website has to sustain itself without any external financial support. For this reason, we will be obliged to charge a membership fee that covers administrative costs associated with the website. We would like to stress that by signing up today, you do not enter into any kind of (future) commitment and you are free to leave the network at any time.