The ATHENA project seeks to reduce the gap in integration outcomes between migrant men and migrant women by improving migrant women entrepreneurship through enhanced services for, policies related to and support of female migrant entrepreneurs. The ATHENA project will run in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia and Spain, and aims to develop common knowledge, identify good practices and improve capacity building around the issue by preparing new services in support of migrant women entrepreneurs. As part of the project, migrant women will be granted the opportunity interact, exchange information, and improve their relations and contacts in their host country. ATHENA culminates in the creation of policy recommendations and action plans, led by ELIAMEP, that will support the entrepreneurial capacities of migrant women, establish an entrepreneurial path for migrant women in different regions of the EU, and propose measures on how to make the project sustainable.

This project follows the 2019 AMIF project entitled SMART Volunteering for Migrant Women in which a majority of interventions made at the final conference noted that the lack of economic opportunities for migrant women is a major challenge that prevents their proper integration. The EU Entrepreneurship 2020 Action plan intends to remove obstacles and revolutionize the culture of entrepreneurship in the EU by ensuring that business services reach all potential entrepreneurs, including vulnerable populations, thus improving cohesion in the EU and facilitating entrepreneurship among migrants already residing in the EU.

For more information visit: https://athenaproject.net/

Coordinating institution:

Camara Oficial De Comercio Industria y Navegacion de Sevilla (CCSEV), Spain

Partner Institutions:

Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Greece

International Consulting and Mobility Agency Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada (INCOMA), Spain

Nova Onlus Consorzio di Cooperative Sociali- Cooperativa Sociale (NOVA onlus), Italy

IHK- Projektgesellschaft MBH (IHK-Projekt), Germany

Siaulu Prekybos Pramones Ir Amatu Rumai (SCCIC), Lithuania

Digital Leadership Institute (DLI), Belgium

Project number: 957906

ELIAMEP Team:

Haris Malamidis, Research Fellow

Konstantinos Vlachopoulos, Junior Research Fellow

Cheryl Novak, Research Associate

News & Media:

Immigrant entrepreneurship in Greece: Cui bono? – Konstantinos Vlachopoulos (12 May, 2022)

Entrepreneurship a pathway for female refugees – Cheryl Novak (1 April, 2022)

Entrepreneurship: a difficult choice for migrant women – Haris Malamidis (August 11, 2021)

Presentation of the ATHENA project to a Press Conference – Kostantinos Vlachopoulos (7 June, 2021)

International Event for Women Entrepreneurs – (25 – 26 October, 2022)