In the world of women's empowerment and entrepreneurship, every opportunity seized is a step closer to fostering change. In 2023, GLOW4equality celebrated a significant milestone as founder Sara Carlemår was selected for The Break Fellowship Program, a prestigious EU-funded initiative aiming to strengthen the women-led business ecosystem in Europe.
The Break Fellowship is a program for female entrepreneurs aimed at creating a stronger women-led business ecosystem in Europe. Online sessions covering business development topics and networking were crowned with a 4 week work stay in Spain. For me, Sara, The Break Fellowship represented more than just a professional opportunity; it embodies the essence of GLOW4equality's mission – to empower women to empower others. As I reflect on my personal journey, from the start of GLOW4equality to the present moment, I am reminded of the power of resilience and the impact of collective action.
The three transformational goals of The Break Fellowship were:
✅ Acceleration: personally, and for your business
✅ Collaboration: a lifelong international community
✅ Local Development: innovation to solve local challenges
My experience in Spain during the month-long work stay was fantastic. Besides the opening and closing events in Madrid with about 300 people, myself and 18 other women called the city of Malaga our home for a few weeks. A vibrant city on by the sea often described as capital of "Costa del sol". The Coworking Community Impact Hub was our office, a place for gathering and boosting impact entrepreneurs. The experience provided me with valuable insights into being part of a tailored program myself, since GLOW4equality offers a tailored coaching programs our selfs. Actually “taking a break” from the daily routines with all everyday life duties was surreal at times, since being a mother of three and a social entrepreneurs, and everything else can be intense at times. Taking that brake opened for valuable reflections and new perspectives.
During the fellowship, we had group sessions, beautiful one on one conversations and mentoring in different ways. My cohort engaged in various activities aimed at addressing local challenges, with a particular focus on sustainable tourism in Malaga. Through guided tours and interactions with local entrepreneurs, we explored the intersection of entrepreneurship, sustainability, and community development. One specific guided tour was through the beautiful town of Malaga with a local guide and architect. The tour ended with the very cool sustainable innovation “Vertical garden,” where they re-use the hotel's water for the plants by the innovative company Biotonomy.
A serendipitous moment over a cup of coffee at ImpactHub Malaga also led to a beautiful Iran-Sweden-Britain meeting. Linking beautifully to Iran and what ignited the flame to start GLOW4equality - women’s rights, and life in freedom.
As I reflect on the journey with The Break Fellowship, a few personal takeaways from the experience were:
- Expanding my global network and building valuable relationships
- Gaining new perspectives on gender challenges and sustainability
- Reaffirming the importance of connecting between cultures
- Deepening my understanding of how to build and nurture a community
- Benchmarking GLOW's approach to addressing the sustainable challenges we face
- A personal break boosting new energy to continue making an impact
The importance of cross-cultural connections became very clear to me and is the one biggest take-away. Reaffirming GLOW4equality's commitment to fostering inclusive spaces for women in cross-cultural settings, gaining knowledge and energy from one another.
See parts of the experience visually through Instagram Stories.