Call for Applications to Support Women Entrepreneurs

Visa is launching its global ‘She's Next’ program to support women-led businesses in Hungary, Bence Sármay, regional manager of the digital payments service provider, announced in Budapest on Tuesday.

Five Hungarian women entrepreneurs will each receive a HUF 2 million grant and one year of mentoring, Bence Sármay said. He added that applications can be submitted until May 21 with at least 51% female-owned businesses registered before January 1, 2021.

A ‘convincing entrepreneurial story’ is also essential, as well as a ’digital presence’, such as a website, an online ordering function, a social media platform or the ability to accept digital payments, the regional manager stressed.

He pointed out that Visa's global program has invested more than USD 2.8 million to support and mentor women entrepreneurs worldwide, for example in the U.S., Canada, Ireland and Poland.

At the press conference, Visa's Regional Product Development Director, Katalin Juhász, presented the results of their recent research, which showed that one in two Hungarian women entrepreneurs face challenges in financing their businesses. 51% of respondents cited difficulty in raising finance as one of their difficulties, 26% cited "personal limits" such as lack of professional skills, and 16% cited other work and family commitments.

“In Hungary, there are half as many female business owners as men, and this proportion is only slowly decreasing," Katalin Juhász said. She noted that their survey showed that almost one in four women entrepreneurs encountered prejudice, a better rate than in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where the survey was also carried out.

She also said that when women entrepreneurs were asked why they started their own business, the biggest reason – 54% – was independence, 24% wanted to create something new and 18% wanted to earn more.