The Break: supporting female entrepreneurship and local communities

The School of Industrial Organisation (EOI), which is attached to the Secretariat-General for Industry and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, has just launched the second edition of The Break. This international talent attraction programme is part of Spain’s National Entrepreneurial Strategy, the government’s long-term vision to make Spain a reference country into innovative entrepreneurship in 2030.

The programme is designed for European entrepreneurs living outside of Spain who have started a project in the last five years. The Break aims to contribute to three objectives: (I) reducing the gender gap in entrepreneurship; (II) the improvement of participating entrepreneurs’ projects and their contribution to solving local challenges; and (iii) the creation of a European network of female entrepreneurs – the Breaker community – aimed at generating business opportunities.

After the first edition, more than 60 % of the 280 female entrepreneurs in The Break created business alliances with the 12 local entrepreneurial communities that hosted and accompanied the entrepreneur. In the second edition, 720 female entrepreneurs resident in other European Union countries will participate in this hybrid fellowship programme – face-to-face and online – for three months, which includes: training, individual mentoring and a one-month working stay in Spain.

The investment has a EUR 10 million budget until December 2023.

More information can be found at the links below:

• “The Break” lanza su segunda edición, con el objetivo de atraer a 720 emprendedoras de la Unión Europea a España | Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia Gobierno de España. (planderecuperacion.gob.es)
• “The Break” lanza su segunda edición, con el objetivo de atraer a 720 emprendedoras de la Unión Europea a España | EOI
• The Break Fellowship – Incubating women entrepreneurship in Spain (the-break.eu)