Call for Female Entrepreneurs: Empowering Women in Agrifood Programme 2025

Objectives

• The objective of the Empowering Women in Agrifood Programme (“EWA Programme”) is to boost enterprise development in RIS countries targeted at emerging female entrepreneurs. The EWA Programme aims to provide women entrepreneurs (10 by country every year) (“Mentees”) across RIS countries with the required knowledge, confidence, support and networking opportunities to successfully start and develop sustainable businesses.
• The EWA Programme will be managed by respective Co-Location Centres – South (“EIT Food CLC South”) and North-East (“EIT Food CLC NE”) – in cooperation with local organisations (“Organisations”) specializing in boosting female entrepreneurship.
• The EWA Programme contains business training, 1:1 mentoring and networking opportunities. There is also a platform dedicated to the creation of women entrepreneurs’ community in the agrifood sector in respective countries and at the European level.

Funding Information

• 1st Round – Financial Support
  • The Financial Support is available for all the selected applicants(Mentees). A total of 1.000 euros gross is granted per Mentee to support their costs of participation in the EWA Programme activities (“Financial Support”).
  • The Financial Support will help to cover travel and accommodation costs during activities in each country, as well as costs of care over dependent family members (children, seniors, people with disabilities) during the activities related to the project, internet and materials needed for the business idea development (buying books, access to online data repository etc.). The Financial Support was estimated by looking at average costs within different countries in Southern and Central and Eastern Europe.
• 2 nd Round – Final Grants
  • The third local event within the EWA Programme, organised face to face (Demo Day) will be organised with the aim of exposing Mentees to public speaking and business competition, selecting 1st (10.000 EUR gross) and 2nd (5.000 EUR gross) (“Final Grants”) winners and networking all participants with the local startup and innovation ecosystem. Final Grants are meant to be used toward the progress of the business.
• 3 rd Round – Visibility Pack
  • As part of the EWA Programme, a set of selected Mentees will have the opportunity to participate in the Next Bite: Accelerating Innovation Through Female Leadership, an event taking place in Warsaw, Poland, on the 4th of December 2025.
  • To support them, additional financial support of 1.000 EUR gross (“Visibility Pack”) will be awarded to one Mentee per country, covering travel-related expenses to attend and present their business idea at the event – such as transportation, accommodation, and other eligible costs linked to participation. The Visibility Pack was estimated by looking at average travel and accommodation costs within different countries in Southern and Central and Eastern Europe.

Eligibility Criteria

• This call is open to individuals
  • Applicant Eligibility:
    • Each participant must:
      • Identify as a woman,
      • Be a resident of, and in case of start-up representatives, having a company registered in Albania, Estonia, Greece, Italy, NorthMacedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Türkiye or Ukraine (with excellent or native proficiency of local language),
      • Have interest and preliminary commitment to attend Programme activities, trainings and events,
      • In case of running a business – have the company registered for a maximum of 3 years,
      • In case of prior investment for the development of this idea – received investment totalling in less than 60,000 Euro.

For more information, visit EIT Food.