Successful Polish businesswomen from over 20 countries around the world came to celebrate the first Women’s Entrepreneurship Day held in Poland, and to inspire others to start up their own businesses.

The Women’s Entrepreneurship Day (WED) is a social movement that was initiated in 2014 by Wendy Diamond, the founder and the world’s Ambassador of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day in New York. Although Diamond’s initiative is celebrated annually on November 19th, the global, social movement takes place every day, all year long, to promote entrepreneurship among women, and is aimed at supporting and strengthening women’s entrepreneurial opportunities.

In the year of 2017, Urszula Ciołeszyńska – WED Ambassador in Poland, organized a series of events in Poland to emphasize the role of women in business.

Book “Business Inspirations of Polish Women in the World”

Two ambassadors of women’s entrepreneurship – Urszula Ciołeszyńska, President of the Polish Network of Women’s Entrepreneurship Ambassadors (Poland) and Kinga Langley, President of PREMIER International Business Club (United Kingdom / United States) – joined forces to start a unique project of publishing the book “Business Inspirations of Polish Women in the World”.

From Wendy Diamond’s foreword in the book, twenty successful, entrepreneurial Polish women have taken on the great challenge of communicating to others their experiences, advice, and tips, never before recorded, and all of which helped them reach for their young girls’ dreams. It is wonderful that these women now live in different parts of the world, have different origins, different backgrounds, and yet are united by their Polish identity and their abiding faith in their abilities. These women traveled to Poland from places as far as India, China, Japan, Peru, Zambia, the United States, Sweden, Denmark, and the United Kingdom to share their experiences and to inspire others to take action in business.

The book is a one-of-a-kind entrepreneurial guide written by experienced entrepreneurs who share their experiences, advice and inspirations. This book is a collection of unpublished, long-lasting, unique, inspirational entrepreneurial lessons that will be shared with readers of Polish women who have been successful business in various countries around the world.

Special guest: Wendy Diamond – CEO & Founder of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day

Co-authors: Maria Rozalia Ogonowska-Wiśniewska – General Honorary Consul of Poland in Zambia • Susan Kim-Chomicka – Korea, China and Poland • Beata Drzazga – USA Nevada and Poland • Teresa Garvin – USA Illinois • Anna Hejka – Spain, USA and Poland • Anna Kalata – India and Poland • Sylwia Mokrysz – Poland and Czech • Maria Olsson – Sweden • Honorata Pierwoła – USA New York • Victoria Prus- Wiśniewski – Great Britain • Iwona Pruska – Dubai United Arab Emirates • Kamila Rejman – Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates • Agnieszka Szczęśniak – Japan • Justyna Szwed – England • Katarzyna Trawińska – kraje Europejskie • Anna Uzarska – Denmark • Justyna Weber – Germany • Magda Wierzycka – South Africa • Beata Woźnica – Peru • Dominika Żurawska – Scotland

The idea and edition of the book: Urszula Ciołeszyńska and Kinga Langley

The both books (Polish and English) are available for on-line reading.

Press conference

We organized special Breakfast for Journalists on the occasion of the WED and the premiere of the new book. This event took place in Warsaw on November 16th with participation of 40 polish and international media. All our guests from media received new books.

The main objective of the meeting was to draw the attention of the media to the idea of celebrating entrepreneurship among women on the occasion of World Women’s Entrepreneurship Day and the promotion of the new book “BUSINESS INSPIRATIONS of Polish women in the world”.

The meeting was attended by co-authors of the book – entrepreneurial women from 20 countries, including from Japan, China, India, Peru, Zambia, United Arab Emirates, the United States, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany and Sweden, who came to Poland specifically for the premiere of the book.

Women Economic Forum Poland 2017

As part of Women’s Entrepreneurship Day 2017 celebration in Poland, the organizers hosted a Women Economic Forum, held at the Ministry of Development in Warsaw. Mrs. Angelika Możdżanowska, the Secretary of State in Ministry of Development and Government Representative for SME, could not disguise her pleasure, saying: “Your extraordinary energy and life stories are an inspiration to many women. Everything that Polish women do here and around the world, and the way they share their experience and knowledge, can change how women think, as well as change the men who support them and our generation as a whole. This book is a real bible of entrepreneurship, and should be a compulsory textbook in all schools of management.” In her opening speech, Minister Możdżanowska also talked about the Business Constitution, which contains legal acts that make it easier for small businesses to operate.

Forum participants (200 invited guests) repeatedly emphasized that their successes were the result of their deep determination in pursuing their goals. Their roads to success often came fraught with obstacles and failures that could always be turned into successes, as emphasized by Sylwia Mokrysz from the MOKATE company. “For many years, my personal experience has reinforced in me the belief that women in business can do a lot more than they do at present. This belief in our unused potential motivates me to help others. I believe that [we] need to use every opportunity to change our current state in order to unleash the enormous potential we have.” added Sylwia Mokrysz.

Teresa Garvin, who runs a business in Chicago, has long mentored women from various countries around the world, including Poland. “I have extensive experience in running a business in the U.S., and therefore have ready-made models that can and should be introduced to Poland. Deciding to take part in this project, I suddenly imagined how many women I could inspire. After all, I started from scratch in a foreign country and without a language. If I was able to succeed, others can too.” stressed the U.S.-based entrepreneur.

An example of the many, interesting presentations made during the Forum was a lecture on cryptocurrencies, given during the digital networking, communication or mediation portion of the programme. The speaker was Anna Hejka, one of the co-authors of the book, and a serial entrepreneur, having founded 20 companies in the US, Europe, and Asia. “My mission is to inspire Poles with self-confidence and to give them [the] tools [they need] to achieve their dreams. Many times, I have managed to achieve goals that seemed impossible to everyone else.” said Hejka.

Prof. dr Rimantas Gatuatis presented BUSINESS MAKEOVER powered by ENVISION, which is a project that focuses on inspiring small businesses to rethink and modernize their business models. As an EU initiative, the programme caters for all businesses, no matter where they are from. “It is in 7 languages already, including Polish. The idea of BUSINESS MAKEOVER is that entrepreneurs can sit down and think over their company and business model; they can work out the little things to make their business a success. Business Model Innovation is all about inspiration.

Agenda of Women Economic Forum

• Welcome, Introduction & leading conference: Urszula Ciołeszyńska and Grzegorz Turniak
• Introduction Speech by Mrs. Angelika Możdżanowska, the Secretary of State in Ministry of Development and Government Representative for SME
• Presentation of the project and co-author of the book “BUSINESS INSPIRATIONS of Women in the World”, successful Polish entrepreneurs, answered the same question “Why are you there?”
  • Maria Rozalia Ogonowska-Wiśniewska – General Honorary Consul of Poland in Zambia • Susan Kim-Chomicka – Korea, China and Poland • Beata Drzazga – USA Nevada and Poland • Teresa Garvin – USA Illinois • Anna Hejka – Spain, USA and Poland • Anna Kalata – India and Poland • Sylwia Mokrysz – Poland and Czech • Maria Olsson – Sweden • Honorata Pierwoła – USA New York • Victoria Prus- Wiśniewski – Great Britain • Iwona Pruska – Dubai United Arab Emirates • Kamila Rejman – Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates • Agnieszka Szczęśniak – Japan • Justyna Szwed – England • Katarzyna Trawińska – Europe • Anna Uzarska – Denmark • Justyna Weber – Germany • Magda Wierzycka – South Africa • Beata Woźnica – Peru • Dominika Żurawska – Scotland
• Digital Networking – Art of Communication – Grzegorz Turniak
• Coffee break – networking ( 60 minutes )
• Connecting cultural differences in communication – Ewa Rogozińska
• BUSINESS MAKEOVER platform – benefits of entrepreneurs – prof. dr Rimantas Gatuatis
• Blockchain. Virtual currencies as new ways of financial settlements – Anna Hejka
• POLAND 3.0 – National Program of the Republic of Poland. Clusters driving the economy – Angelika Jarosławska
• International cooperation of Women Entrepreneurs with Emirates & Europe Business Development Cluster – Jadwiga Juszko

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Women Entrepreneurship Gala Dinner 2017

As part of the continuation of the international events of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, the Sofitel Victoria Hotel in Warsaw hosted the grand opening of our new book “BUSINESS INSPIRATIONS of Polish Women in the World”, which was premiere on the same day. Celebrities attend along with prominent guests from business, media, science, politics and diplomacy. Representatives of Foreign Embassy’s including that of each of our co-authors were also invited.

The honorary patronage over the Women Entrepreneurship Gala is covered
by the First Lady of the Republic of Poland Agata Kornhauser-Duda

During the Gala Dinner ceremony with the participation of 500 invited guests, 20 co-authors of our book were presented and honored with a prestigious statuette and the title of Women Entrepreneurship Ambassador 2017 and 20 extraordinary and successful female entrepreneurs from Poland were also honored with a prestigious statuette and the title of Women Entrepreneurship Ambassador 2017.

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