KYIV, JUNE 12, 2023 — Visa has announced the launch of the She’s Next digital community platform for female entrepreneurs from Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus, created in partnership with Emerging Europe, a prominent growth hub with thorough expertise in the region – shesnext.emergingeurope.org.

The platform is intended to connect businesswomen from different countries and facilitate networking, exchanging experiences, and international business expansion.

“The She’s Next Empowered by Visa initiative is not only about empowerment but about creating a community of like-minded ambitious women,” says Vira Platonova, Visa Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for 17 countries. “Hosting international events dedicated to female entrepreneurship, we noticed an interesting detail: She’s Next alumni from different countries tended to connect on the basis of shared interests and values. When Visa entered into partnership with Emerging Europe and conducted a survey among women business owners from Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus in 2022, the findings showed that 85 per cent of respondents would join the international community of entrepreneurs. So, we created it for them to share best practices, learn from each other, and grow as leaders. I believe the She’s Next digital community platform will be a real game-changer for all businesswomen from Ukraine and the whole region.”

The website which hosts the platform features a variety of content and is accessible for everyone. Women can learn more about leadership, female entrepreneurs, find inspiration and get to know more about useful skills. The website is also being updated with useful content produced in cooperation with Emerging Europe: podcasts, interviews, OpEds with practical advice from experts from various fields, etc.

The digital community platform, part of the website for registered users, includes all functions of a professional social network—a newsfeed, interest groups, and tools for posting and messaging—and will allow female leaders and entrepreneurs to communicate, search for business contacts, suppliers, or investors, and develop their personal brand.

“During multiple in-depth interviews that we carried out within the research, we heard from women entrepreneurs and start-up founders about how essential it is to share insight and, more importantly, learn from other women about how they solved various challenges. As such, the platform does not only provide access to peer learning but is also set to offer mentoring, build international bridges and showcase funding opportunities and assistance from supporting businesses. All that is provided within a user-friendly tool,” says Andrew Wrobel, Founding Partner at Emerging Europe.

The She's Next digital community platform will give users the opportunity to:

• fill out a detailed questionnaire during registration, indicating their country of origin and countries of interests, professional field and purposes of using the platform, in order to receive targeted assistance from community manager;
• find business partners;
• develop personal brand and increase the awareness of their business, publish posts and materials;
• find mentors upon personal requests and become mentors by themselves, having a desire to share knowledge and experience;
• participate in discussions, webinars, events;
• learn about She's Next Empowered by Visa events and opportunities in their country and in other countries.

Each new member of the platform will also be able to communicate with a community manager who will help them navigate the community, find interest groups and make acquaintances, as well as share links to useful materials.

The She’s Next digital community platform is open to everyone interested in entrepreneurship, from those with a business idea but no existing business to start-up owners and women with well-established enterprises.

To learn more and join, please visit shesnext.emergingeurope.org.

About Visa

Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating payment transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at visa.com.ua.

About Emerging Europe

Emerging Europe is a London-based growth hub that empowers public and private organisations to grow and expand internationally. Our mission is to foster sustainable growth in emerging Europe. We are a go-to partner for those looking to navigate or grow in the region. Through in-depth analysis, market intelligence, research, programmes and engaging content we help businesses, governments, and civil society organisations thrive. We provide them with targeted insight, access to key stakeholders and data to make the right business decisions. Our online platform, Emerging Europe, is the world’s most prominent source of English-language analysis about the region.

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