Womenpreneur Initiative (Belgium - Morrocco)
Womenpreneur Initiative is a Brussels-based non-profit organisation focusing on women’s economic empowerment, mainly in entrepreneurship and the technology sector. Womenpreneur Initiative meets their goals through entrepreneurial activities, professional training, mentorship sessions, leadership programmes, technology education, networking events, and other opportunities. The initiative is active in more than 20 countries in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Founded in 2016, Womenpreneur has reached over 19,000 women and convened more than 40 global initiatives worldwide to support visibility, social impact, and resources for women.
In 2023/2024, the Eurofins Foundation is supporting the project Women Who Repair in Morocco.
As smartphones and other digital tools continue to become increasingly present in our daily and professional lives, Women Who Repair aims to address intrinsic flaws in today’s digital world and job market. Combining technical and professional training, the Women Who Repair project aims to facilitate women's inclusion in the economic sector of digital tools (smartphones, tablets) refurbishments. Participants, women who are unemployed will thus have all the skills to be hired as repair technicians or start their own reparation shops. Beyond the individual and economic impact on the participants, Women Who Repair is primarily a project that supports an environmentally friendly economy and promotes social justice.
The project will have a favourable environmental impact on different levels:
- Natural resource: The manufacturing of smartphones and tablets has consequences on the extraction of natural resources, leading to pollution and large amounts of waste. By training women to become repair technicians, Womenpreneur hopes to normalise the practices of phone refurbishment, thereby reducing the reliance on these minerals. In addition, the manufacturing process itself is highly polluting due to electricity consumption and toxic emissions into the atmosphere.
- Transportation: Smartphone production involves a significant reliance on international division of labou Refurbishment and repair help avoid emissions associated with this entire supply chain.
This project contributes to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
