Since July 2020, the Women Entrepreneurs in Science (WES) project has significantly boosted the visibility and promotion of female founders in North Rhine-Westphalia. Thanks to the new funding as "WES+", this success can be built on directly. Under the WES brand, existing approaches are being rolled out in the pilot project and new approaches to promoting women in start-ups are now being tested throughout Germany.
Review of WES
Women are underrepresented in the start-up scene:
Only 18.8% of start-ups are founded by women. The economic and social potential therefore remains untapped. With WES, we have been able to provide important impetus since 2020, reach numerous women and create sustainable structures for greater visibility and participation.
From July 2020 to February 2025, WES was funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia as part of the "Excellence Start-up Centre.NRW" initiative. During this time, we have built up and successfully implemented a diverse portfolio:
- Image campaign "Nahbare Gründerinnen" for more visibility and role models
- Mentoring programme for exchange, networking and role models for female founders
- Events & workshops for start-up sensitisation and qualification
- University network with over 30 universities for joint implementation and sustainable anchoring
- Development of gender-sensitive start-up counselling
Image campaign and role models: Instagram
New offers from WES+
Since March 2025, WES+ has been funded for three years as a pilot project by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. The project continues to operate externally under the WES brand in order to build on its previous successes.
WES is a nationwide university network that accompanies and supports female students, employees and graduates on their start-up journey. The network is now also aimed at female company successors.
The expanded portfolio builds on the experiences of the first funding phase and is now being rolled out nationwide. This includes
- Mentoring programme with AI matchmaking: brings prospective female founders (mentees) and female founders (mentors) together precisely and efficiently.
- Online Learning Track: Time- and location-independent learning programme with individual modules that can be flexibly combined with studies, work, family or other interests.
- Training programmes for multipliers: Qualification in gender-sensitive communication, start-up counselling and workshop design.
- Central platform: All offers are bundled and made accessible via the WES website.
To the website of WES: Women Entrepreneurs in Science
