CATÓLICA-LISBON offers training to 200 women entrepreneurs

"Women are powerful beings, capable of changing the world", it was with these words that Filipe Santos, DEAN of CATÓLICA-LISBON, launched the initiative that offered training to about 200 women entrepreneurs, on March 10, as part of the celebrations of International Women's Day.

The totally free programme of We@CATÓLICA-LISBON, aimed to support female entrepreneurship and consisted of several workshops whose purpose was to provide women entrepreneurs with the necessary tools for the success of their business

For the Dean of the business school of Universidade Católica, an enterprising person: "is the one who looks around, sees a problem, and tries to find a way to solve it. And we know that women have characteristics, such as empathy, that are the right and assertive skills for this type of initiative."

Rute Xavier, Executive Director of the Center for Applied Studies and responsible for We@CATÓLICA-LISBON, explained explains that these initiatives are important "women have more difficulty in accessing the same tools, have more difficulty in making some part of their family budget available to invest in a course or training that will give them this empowerment and tools to launch their own business."

For the professor, "this is also a way for the University to give back to society". Opinion shared by Alexandra Abreu, Director of Communication of Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics, and founder of the communication agency Think PR, who stated: "these initiatives are a beautiful way for the Universidade Católica to help and serve society. It's part of its DNA".

Cátia Lobato da Costa, one of the participants of these workshops, said: "I came to these workshops precisely to try to understand how I can try to create my brand". She did the Negotiation Skills Workshop because, she believes, "I know that negotiating is an art, but it's also an art that can be learned.

Vanídia Mendes, manager of her own brand, shared: "for me this was an open class, of sharing. And the way we were treated and how we could talk openly ends up generating interest in Católica itself".

Hugo Ferreira, Partner and Member of the Board of Directors of Doutor Finanças, congratulated Católica for this type of initiatives. "We have to keep breaking the barriers that divide men from women, the barriers to access to companies, to entrepreneurship, the barrier to success and professional achievement," he said.

“How to develop a business plan”, by professor Rute Xavier; “How to do the financial management of your business”, by Hugo Ferreira, Doutor Finanças; “How to manage a negotiation”, by professor Ricardo Reis; “How to communicate your business”, by Alexandra Abreu; “How social networks can leverage your business”, by André Alves; “How to use management indicators to manage your business”, by Karen Frisch; e “I’m Remarkable (Google)”, by Cristina Almeida, were the various workshops offered by CLSBE on this training day.