The Estonian Refugee Council, Garage48, and Swedbank invite women living in Estonia to participate in the "Empowering Women" entrepreneurship programme. Starting for the third time on 19 October, the programme helps participants start or develop their micro-businesses and supports women's independent and long-term self-sufficiency.

"The programme's past successes have inspired us to significantly expand it. This season, we are open to women from across Estonia, offering an eight-month business incubation programme. While we have tailored the programme for this larger participant group, we remain committed to the original goal – to empower women who wish to start businesses in environments that present more challenges and fewer opportunities. In Estonia, these are primarily areas outside of major cities, so we especially welcome women who want to create businesses and develop their local communities in rural regions," explains Kadri Tiisvelt, programme lead at Garage48.

According to Grete Karelsohn, livelihood programme specialist at the Estonian Refugee Council, previous seasons of "Empowering Women" have been successful in helping refugees in Estonia achieve self-reliance, while also contributing to the local economy. "We want to continue supporting women with refugee backgrounds by providing opportunities to start their own businesses and enter the local labour market," Karelsohn explained, adding that this year the programme is open to both refugee women and local entrepreneurial women, offering participants the chance to learn from each other’s diverse experiences and worldviews.

The Idea Garage event on 19 October is the programme’s first stage and is open to anyone considering entrepreneurship, looking to better define their business idea, or wanting to find an idea and team to join. The following steps include a business model hackathon and an incubation programme.

You can apply to participate in the programme through this link.

The "Empowering Women" entrepreneurship programme is organised by the Estonian Refugee Council, Garage48, and Swedbank, with partners EENA and OBJEKT. The programme season runs from September 2024 to March 2025 in Estonian and Russian. Previous seasons have launched approximately 13 businesses, creating jobs for nearly 30 people. You can read about the latest season here. The programme is also implemented in Ukraine to support women starting businesses there.

The programme is co-funded by Swedbank, Garage48, the Estonian Refugee Council, OBJEKT, and the European Union.