In the last couple of months, 10 women entrepreneurs participated in a pre-incubation programme to improve their entrepreneurial skills and provide them support through mentoring for developing solutions to the specific challenges of the agri-food sector. EWA programme supports women entrepreneurs in the early stages of their business development, usually before they start their own businesses.

On the 10th of October 10 women entrepreneurs with their mentors and invited experts met at the first Masterclass event of the Empowering Women in Agrifood program in Hungary. The event was placed in the Impact HUB in Budapest.

The aim of this Masterclass event was to prepare these awesome female entrepreneurs for the final pitch event. “We designed this masterclass to help women entrepreneurs develop skills such as verbal and non-verbal communication, pitching, listening attentively, giving feedback to each other, practicing individually, and working in groups. We wanted to create an environment in which every mentee feels safe to express ideas, opinions, and feelings or plan and solve problems in a creative way” said Tamás Müller co-founder of Pozi.io and founder of Women Startup Competition event.

The event started with networking and an introductory presentation by Tamás Müller about techniques of efficient negotiation and pitching. Besides these, Tamás Müller also presented the mentees with how to create a great presentation based on the ten key slides, that can support the mentees' speech.

Hungarian EWA participants are enthusiastic and proactive women. They are hungry and thirsty for knowledge, and they have the willingness of doing more and more on a daily basis for improving their businesses.

1. ANITA KÉPÍRÓ - BOERECET MŰVEK - Fruit and vinegar-based healthy soft drink
2. CSILLA HÓDI - ADOPT A MUSHROOM! - Indoor mushroom cultivation in a rental system
3. CSILLA KÁDÁR - STELLA SAFFRON - Growing, processing and marketing of high-quality saffron
4. DOROTTYA SZÁM - NETWORK MEDICINE FOR AGRICULTURE (NWMA) - Software for pesticide manufacturers to develop more effective fungicides
5. ÉVA KOVÁCS - VEGENDÁS - Plant-based products and creams fermented with bacteria
6. 6ERZSÉBET BOROS - SUDÁR BIRTOK - Herbs and medicinal plants, community garden
7. KATALIN RÉTHY - SZEZONKERT - Cultivation of traditional landscape varieties and underutilized plants
8. OLIVIA GAZSÓ - ORGANIC HORTICULTURE - Bio-intensive methods for chemical-free products
9. SZANDRA NYEMECZ - SUPERFOOD BREAKFAST- Smoothie drinks with sprinkles for food
10. TÜNDE UDVARNOKI - COMPOT - Clay indoor composter

After the introductory part of the event, the invited experts and mentors had 1-1 pitch practicing sessions with the women entrepreneurs in 20-minute-long rounds.

The mentors and experts, who were participating in the first Masterclass event of the EWA program in Hungary were:

1. NÓRA FEKETE - marketing and communication expert
2. NIKOLETTA TAKÁCS - independent creative mastermind, experienced in international project management, PR & PA activities, and media.
3. ROLAND KOVÁCS - Founder of POZI.io, business development
4. TAMÁS MÜLLER - Founder of POZI.io, and Women Startup Competitions
5. TAMÁS PÉTER TURCSÁN - Founder of POZI.io, customer development, business development.
6. VÖRÖSS LEVENTE – experienced entrepreneur, geolocation app development, farmer, and food shop owner, 30km. hu őstermelői net app founder
7. ZSOLT JEGES - Founder of Mamazone

During the Masterclass event organized by POZI.io, most of the entrepreneurs found the training intense but useful. They received feedback from each-mentors from a different perspective depending on the mentors' professional background.

At the final Pitching event of the program in November, each Mentee will present a business idea and business model to a broad audience. All pitches will be evaluated by a jury with a selection of the 1st and 2nd place with a total prize of 15 000 euros.