Advancing women’s entrepreneurship and growth as leaders

In the middle of November over sixty Spanish and Finnish female leaders and entrepreneurs gathered together for an intensive three-day leadership camp in Oulu and Ruka, Kuusamo. The camp was part of the fPlaza joint project between Oulu University of Applied Sciences and University of Oulu.

In the beginning of the week before the camp, the Spanish leaders and entrepreneurs familiarized themselves with Oulu and the both universities. They were introduced to local companies and entrepreneurship activities, such as ice-hole pitching competition Polar Bear Pitching, female leadership in Finland, and the education in Finland.

The leadership camp began on Thursday with a bus ride from Oulu to Ruka, Kuusamo. The official camp programme consisted of lectures, workshops and sharing different experiences of leadership. According to participants, the days were very thought-provoking, intensive and full of meaningful learnings and conversations about leadership.

The women also met the Santa Claus and went to traditional Finnish sauna. And of course, after hearing the story of Polar Bear Pitching in the beginning of the week, everyone was given a chance to try out pitching in a real ice-hole.

fLeader – grow as a leader

The camp was part of a joint fLeader programme of Oulu University of Applied Sciences and Martti Ahtisaari Institute of University of Oulu. The programme is conducted in international collaboration with EOI, Escuela de Organizacion Industrial in Madrid, Spain.

The fLeader started last September and it will last till May 2020. The programme’s success has been overwhelming – there was so much interest towards the programme that it was necessary to form two groups instead of one. The programme aims at strengthening participants’ leadership potential, interaction skills and networks in order to advance women's leadership abilities, responsible business and growth. The central themes of the fLeader programme are:

1. Me as a leader – Developing your own abilities as a leader
2. Leadership in an organisation – Inspiring and encouraging others in target-oriented operations
3. Managing networks – Building successful relationships across organizational borders

Advancing equality in business

fLeader is one of the programmes of fPlaza joint project between Oulu University of Applied Sciences and University of Oulu. The main objective of the fPlaza-project is to reduce gender segregation at work both vertically and horizontally, in Finland and in the partner countries. The project will increase business leadership competences and promote career advancement for women, from a position to another, or from a position to entrepreneurship. In addition, female entrepreneurs are supported and encouraged for business development, business growth and internationalization. Female entrepreneurs are also encouraged beyond fields of industries traditionally less occupied by female entrepreneurs.

Learn more about the fPlaza programmes: https://www.oamk.fi/c5/en/research-and-development/projects/fplaza