Junta promotes pioneering initiative to foster female entrepreneurship

The Junta de Andalucía regional government has launched a pioneering initiative to encourage entrepreneurship among women through a protocol promoted by Andalucía Emprende - a foundation attached to the regional ministry of university, research and innovation - and the Andalusian women's institute (IAM), which reports to the regional ministry of social inclusion, youth, families and equality.

This is a referral process for women's entrepreneurship that aims to offer comprehensive and specialised attention, facilitating their access to information services, training and promotion of entrepreneurship. An agile and efficient referral system has been established between the Andalusian centres for entrepreneurship (Cade), managed by Andalucía Emprende, and the provincial and municipal centres of the IAM, ensuring that each woman receives the appropriate support according to her needs.

General director of Andalucía Emprende Daniel Escacena thanked the IAM for its commitment and involvement in bringing this protocol to fruition and highlighted that the aim was to "establish a coordinated care circuit to facilitate access to specialised resources for women who want to start up a business to boost their initiatives".

Escacena highlighted women's key role in the "dynamisation of the economy" and the "Junta's commitment to a more egalitarian, resilient and entrepreneurial society". At the same time, IAM director Olga Carrión said that, "in recent years, there have been important advances in terms of equality in the region". In 2024, more than half of the self-employed people that Andalucía gained were women (53.6%). The number of women in this field has grown by 17% since 2018, standing at 37% of the total.

"These figures show us that we have to continue working and help break from traditional clichés and stereotypes, because a woman is not free if she is not economically free," Carrión said. Her hope is that the agreement with Andalucía Emprende will help them "reach every corner of Andalucía" and "help, train and advise all women who want to start a business".

Within the framework of this procedure, Andalucía Emprende and the IAM will be responsible for informing users about the services, resources and contacts available in the other institution.

Andalucía Emprende's 260 centres offer personalised advisory services, business training, support in the search for funding, processing of applications for incentives, coworking spaces and business accommodation. The IAM's resources support the areas of equality, the fight against gender violence, employment and training.

Resources for training

They also provide women with any business training service that is available at the moment they want to start a business. Currently, the 'Empezar a Emprender' programme of Andalucía Emprende covers a complete entrepreneurship itinerary in different phases, with differentiated activities in each one of them to respond to the specific needs of each project according to the moment in which it is found.

In addition, the IAM has an active teletraining platform for entrepreneurship with a gender perspective - 'Equipa'. The Andalusian regional government has also launched the mobile application 'Andaluzaa: Mujer, presente y futuro' (Andalucía: Women, present and future), which brings together all the training and employment opportunities in a single click.

Finally, both entities will disseminate their programmes through digital and social media, with the aim of "promoting the visibility of female talent" and "generating a more inclusive ecosystem for entrepreneurship in the region".