Under the slogan "¡SAL! Juntas más lejos. Internacionalizarse en femenino“ (GO! Together, further. Going international as a woman), ICEX Spain Exports and Investments, an organ of the Secretariat of State for Trade, organized an event this Tuesday with the aim of promoting the creation of new contacts between businesswomen, female entrepreneurs and professionals in internationalized companies.

Institutional openness was provided by the Secretary of State for Trade and President of ICEX, Xiana Méndez, who emphasized that approaching gender in the policies of internationalization is a priority for the Secretariat of State for Trade. Since the launch of the initiative ‘Women and Internationalization’ four years ago, we have made progress on issues such as statistical data, visibility of female leadership, financing and training.

Her speech highlighted the positive impact of diversity in terms of efficiency, innovation and growth in business and in the economy as a whole. In this regard, she recalled that studies show that companies which have adequate representation of women in managerial posts were 50% more likely to have better results.

The managing director of ICEX, María Peña, has ensured that when this event ends, we will continue to work every day to increase the visibility of leading women and has presented a video with interviews in which some of the leading female role-models recount their experiences.

During the day, advice was given on how to make the most of networking, and activities were used to invite participants to introduce themselves and their companies and to facilitate communication and connections among participants.

Recommendations were made by Roser Vilaplana, expert in storytelling and networking, with the collaboration of José Miguel Herrero, founder and director of the Never Eat Alone Club, and Lola Riosalido, head of Advertising and Events at Endesa.

The aim of the activity was to provide attendees with a meeting point where they could obtain information of interest, but also meet people with whom they could maintain contact and on whom they could rely in their international professional careers. Hence the tagline: Together, further.

Women and Internationalization

The working group “Women and Internationalization” by the Secretariat of State for Trade is intended to facilitate entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurs and managers access to training, advisory services, information and other resources available to support their international projects.

Thus, through ICEX, a forum will be provided in which sharing experiences, creating a community and establishing a network of support is another one of its activities. As well as providing the platform ‘Women and Internationalization’ with news, documents and experiences, it also has a group on LinkedIn.