Last week I was in Berlin for the launch of the program Female Entrepreneurs of the Future, an initiative by The Association of German Entrepreneurs (VdU), “Women in Digital” (WiDi) and Amazon. The program will run for approximately five months and is focused on helping female entrepreneurs expand their businesses into the digital world by using experienced coaches and experts to help them on their way.

The program attracted over 160 applications and after having been scrutinized by the coaches and experts, 20 successful applicants remained. These 20 candidates will during the coming months receive numerous online training sessions covering everything from product sourcing to online marketing. These sessions will be held by coaches and experts from the e-commerce field, all sharing their own personal knowledge and experience. The candidates will also each have their own coach/mentor, who will help them to develop a strategic plan for their online expansion and then help them execute said plan. At the end of the program, a jury will be selecting a winner in each of the program’s four main focus areas: “From Offline to Online”, “Branding”, “Export” and “Marketplaces”.

The launch event in Berlin consisted of several presentations, workshops and a visit to Amazon’s Fulfillment Center in Brieselang. The candidates got to meet with their coaches and the work began immediately, clearly showing the “doer”-mentality of both coaches and candidates. The coming five months will undoubtedly be extremely intense for everyone involved, but it will also come with great rewards. There is no better time than now.

PS. Keep an extra eye on the Swiss brand Minibag and the Swedish brand Suntribe – I will have the honour of coaching them during the coming months and there will be lots of cool stuff happening!

A selection of images from the kick-off. Photographer: Tobias Koch/Amazon

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