This module equips youth workers with the knowledge and practical tools to empower young women in navigating entrepreneurial ecosystems through effective communication, strategic engagement, and advocacy.

Drawing from the EU’s LifeComp framework (particularly Communication and Collaboration) and EntreComp competences (Mobilising Others, Mobilising Resources, and Taking the Initiative), it supports youth workers in helping young women articulate their ideas, connect with key stakeholders, and access available resources. The module emphasizes both interpersonal empowerment and systemic understanding, enabling youth workers to bridge the gap between individual aspirations and institutional structures.

These topics are crucial because youth workers act as catalysts, helping young women transform ideas into viable, community-relevant ventures by understanding, accessing, and influencing the systems that surround them.

1. How can youth workers use communication as a tool for empowerment and inclusion?
2. What strategies can help young women navigate and benefit from Europe’s entrepreneurial ecosystems?
3. How can youth workers and their mentees engage in advocacy and influence policies that support women’s entrepreneurship?

The main goal of this module is to strengthen the ability of youth and social workers to guide young women in building sustainable entrepreneurial paths through strategic communication, ecosystem awareness, and advocacy. By the end of the module, participants will be able to:

• Facilitate empowering communication processes based on active listening, empathy and clarity.
• Identify and connect young women with relevant actors, resources, and networks within the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• Support mentees in recognizing policy frameworks, institutional barriers, and opportunities for advocacy.
• Apply practical mentoring tools to foster leadership, confidence, and agency among young women entrepreneurs.

Upon completion of this module, participants will be able to:

• Know the key concepts of communication for empowerment, resource mobilisation, and ecosystem engagement from the LifeComp and EntreComp frameworks.
• Understand how effective communication, networking, and advocacy contribute to women’s entrepreneurship and gender equality goals within the EU context.
• Do: design and implement communication strategies; map entrepreneurial ecosystems; guide young women in identifying and using financial, social, and institutional resources; and advocate for inclusive policy environments.
• Demonstrate improved competencies in “Mobilising Others,” “Mobilising Resources,” and “Communication,” enabling them to act as effective facilitators of empowerment and systemic change.

Communication is the foundation of empowerment in entrepreneurship. For youth workers, it means equipping young women to express their ideas clearly, build confidence, and mobilise others toward shared objectives. Drawing from the EntreComp competences Mobilising Others, Working with Others, and Vision, and the LifeComp domain of Communication, this section explores how communication becomes both a personal and collective tool for transformation.

Empowering communication involves:

• Active listening and empathy: Youth workers must understand mentees’ backgrounds, social, cultural, economic, and emotional to tailor support effectively. Empathy fosters a safe space where young women gain confidence to express ideas without fear of judgment.
• Confidence and presence: Coaching techniques may include: Practicing assertive language; Public speaking exercises, body language awareness, role-plays of professional situations (pitching, negotiating, presenting). These skills help young women speak with conviction in entrepreneurial, community, and leadership contexts.
• Purposeful storytelling, Storytelling connects personal motivation to social or economic value. It helps young women: Explain their entrepreneurial journey, communicate the problem they want to solve, demonstrate impact, inspire others to support or invest
• Strategic dialogue and persuasion, inspiring collaboration, negotiating partnerships, and mobilising networks. Entrepreneurship requires negotiation with suppliers, partners, clients, community leaders. In practice, youth workers can coach young women to develop their “entrepreneurial voice”: the ability to share a compelling narrative that highlights both personal motivation and community value creation. 

Entrepreneurial Voice: This is the capacity of a young woman entrepreneur to articulate:

• Who she is (identity and values)
• What she wants to achieve (vision and goals)
• Why it matters (community relevance and impact)

Developing an entrepreneurial voice strengthens confidence and ensures that ideas gain visibility within networks, markets, and community structures.

This approach reflects EntreComp’s emphasis on mobilising others and taking initiative through social influence.

Social influence: involves inspiring, motivating, or persuading others toward a shared goal. It includes:

• Leading by example
• Communicating a vision
• Encouraging participation and ownership
• Facilitating group decisions

For young women, building social influence also means challenging restrictive norms and advocating for inclusion.

Empowerment through communication also supports gender equality by countering the cultural barriers that often discourage women from speaking confidently in public or negotiating assertively. Communication training, therefore, becomes a path to both entrepreneurship and civic participation.

Think of a time when communication changed your perspective or led to collaboration. How could this translate to your work with young women entrepreneurs?

Incorporate local case studies and practical examples relevant to country-specific socioeconomic and cultural contexts. This addresses the need for cultural relevance and concrete illustrations.

2 case studies, 1000 characters each

Oslo: StartupLab during Oslo Innovation Week (OIW)

It exposes young female entrepreneurs to world-class pitch arenas. One of the most prominent opportunities is the 100 Pitches competition  Norway’s largest pitch contest for investor-ready startups, powered by DNB, Oslo Business Region, and StartupLab. 100 Pitches+2DNB+2

During the OIW, entrepreneurs compete in semi-finals held at StartupLab, culminating in a final pitch during the DNB NXT conference. www-a1.akamai.dnb.no The winner receives a prize of 300,000 NOK from DNB, a fast-track interview for DNB’s accelerator, and enhanced visibility in the investor ecosystem. DNB+1

For young women such events became powerful platforms to refine their entrepreneurial voice. Through mentorship and pitch training, they crafted narratives that combined personal background, culture and scalable ventures. By participating in 100 Pitches, they not only gained confidence but also real access to investors and a professional stage—a concrete example of how empowering communication can unlock business opportunities.

Real Women Pitchers at 100 Pitches

Anette Weyergang (RAB Diagnostics)

Anette Weyergang won the 100 Pitches competition at DNB NXT during Oslo Innovation Week with her company RAB Diagnostics, which develops tests to predict whether advanced cancer treatment will work. shifter.no Her victory (in 2024) is a powerful example of how a strong, well-crafted pitch grounded in technical knowledge and a mission-driven story can command investor attention. Weyergang’s success illustrates how young female entrepreneurs benefit from pitch training and communication coaching, not only to explain complex science, but to convey personal motivation and societal impact. Her story demonstrates the “entrepreneurial voice”: combining vision, technical competence, and storytelling to mobilise investors.

Karoliina Kauhanen (Commu App)

Karoliina Kauhanen, co-founder of Commu App, won 100 Pitches (DNB NXT) for her social app that connects people who need help with volunteers in their neighborhood. dnb.no Her pitch impressed the jury because it combined a clear problem statement (“making it easier to ask for and give help locally”) with a strong social mission and scalable business model. Kauhanen’s win shows how communication that centers empathy and social value resonates in investor arenas: she used storytelling to highlight community impact, which aligned with sustainability goals and social entrepreneurship themes.

UiT – The Arctic University of Norway

In Tromsø, the Arctic Youth Network partnered with UiT to offer a series of digital communication bootcamps aimed at young female social entrepreneurs living in remote and coastal communities. The programme combined LifeComp communication principles, active listening, self-expression, and empathy with hands-on digital storytelling tools such as podcast production, short-form video, and narrative mapping. Participants explored how to communicate social impact in ways that resonated with northern communities, weaving in themes of climate resilience, Sámi identity, and youth leadership. The bootcamps concluded with a community showcase where participants presented their digital stories to local businesses, municipal representatives, and potential sponsors. Several young women secured mentorships through UiT’s innovation network, while others attracted small-scale funding from local foundations to continue developing their projects. The initiative demonstrated how communication skills, when paired with culturally grounded storytelling formats, can open doors for young women to build visibility, partnerships, and long-term entrepreneurial confidence.

Youth workers can apply a wide range of mentoring and coaching techniques to strengthen both empowering mindsets and entrepreneurial competences in young women. To cultivate self-confidence, resilience, and emotional intelligence core elements of the LifeComp framework youth workers can facilitate empathic dialogue sessions using the “listen–mirror–respond” method. This approach encourages young women to articulate their thoughts and emotions in a safe space, while building interpersonal understanding and trust. Confidence circles, where participants exchange constructive and affirming feedback, further reinforce a sense of belonging and personal worth. Mindset reframing exercises help participants reinterpret challenges as learning moments, supporting long-term resilience and motivation.

In parallel, strengthening self-awareness and purpose can be achieved through storytelling for empowerment, using narrative-mapping techniques that explore “who I am,” “what I do,” and “why it matters.” This process helps young women clarify their identity, values, and ambitions, enabling them to communicate with conviction in public, professional, and entrepreneurial settings. Paired reflections and guided values-clarification activities can deepen emotional intelligence by supporting empathy and intentional decision-making.

For developing EntreComp-based entrepreneurial competences, youth workers can incorporate experiential and practical training strategies. Pitching labs allow participants to draft, practise, and refine short presentations that highlight personal motivation, business value, and social impact. These sessions build confidence, clarity, and strategic communication. Role-play workshops provide simulated environments where young women can practise negotiations, partnership conversations, and client interactions, strengthening assertiveness, problem-solving, and collaborative skills.

Teaching financial literacy and business planning can involve step-by-step guided discovery exercises, where participants create simple budgets, pricing strategies, and business model canvases. Peer-review sessions help develop analytical thinking and teamwork while maintaining a supportive learning culture. To foster digital competence and entrepreneurial visibility, digital expression labs offer hands-on experience with podcasting, vlogging, and social media storytelling. These activities enhance communication skills while equipping young women with practical tools for promoting their ideas, engaging communities, and reaching potential customers.

Together, these techniques support a holistic developmental pathway, enabling young women to build confidence, competence, and agency key foundations for meaningful and sustainable entrepreneurship.

Youth workers act as navigators, helping young women understand and access the entrepreneurship landscape around them. Aligned with EntreComp competences Spotting Opportunities, Mobilising Resources, and Working with Others, this section develops ecosystem literacy, the ability to identify, evaluate, and strategically use available resources, relationships, and institutions.

In the European context, key ecosystem actors include:

• EU programmes such as Erasmus+ Youth, Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs, and the EIC Accelerator, which provide transnational learning, mobility, and funding pathways
• Innovation Norway and Siva (for funding and incubation). Ungt Entreprenørskap (Young Entrepreneurship Norway) for entrepreneurship education.
• NAV Youth Services and municipal youth hubs for guidance and financial advice.
• EU programmes such as Erasmus+ Youth and EIC Accelerator for transnational networking.

Youth workers should help young women:

• Map and understand these actors and their roles.
• Recognise gaps or barriers (gender bias, rural access, lack of confidence).
• Develop networking strategies and partnership skills.
• Leverage collective resources and peer networks to strengthen resilience.

The “Hidden” Ecosystem in Southern Europe

While Northern European ecosystems tend to be highly structured and institution-driven, many Southern European countries rely on a more informal and relational entrepreneurial ecosystem. In these high-context cultures, entrepreneurship often grows from extended family networks, neighbourhood associations, community organisations, and cooperatives, which serve as early financial, emotional, and reputational support systems. These informal structures can act as unofficial safety nets, especially in contexts where formal financing is limited, bureaucratic, or risk-averse.

For youth workers, supporting young women in such ecosystems requires recognising these informal networks as legitimate entrepreneurial assets, not as weaknesses. Youth workers can help mentees professionalise these supports—for example, transforming informal family loans into clear seed-capital agreements to avoid emotional debt, or using community reputation as a form of early market validation before approaching larger, formal actors.

Bridging Informal Social Capital with Formal Opportunities

At the same time, young women in Southern Europe often face challenges when transitioning from trust-based local support systems to more complex institutional environments. In Spain, for example, youth workers may work with mentees to navigate actors such as the Instituto de la Mujer, regional innovation centres, and EU-level schemes. This dual approach strengthening both relational networks and institutional competencies helps young women avoid becoming confined to “localism” and instead access broader national and European opportunities.

Developing this blended form of ecosystem literacy enables young women to progress from “who you know” (trust-based access) to “what you know” (skills and merit-based access), while acknowledging that in many economies, personal relationships remain the gateway to professional resources. This broader understanding of ecosystem navigation equips youth workers across Europe to provide culturally grounded, realistic, and empowering guidance.

Reflective prompt: Which ecosystem stakeholders, formal or informal do your mentees rely on most, and how can you help them build bridges to new opportunities?

Case 1 – Bergen

In Bergen, a Women in Startups support programme connected young female founders with seasoned business mentors, Innovation Norway advisers, and alumni networks. Through structured mentoring sessions, the participants mapped their personal support ecosystems — identifying who can advise them, invest in them, and open key doors. They then used these insights to strengthen their resource mobilisation plans, including applying for grants, pitching to angel investors, or building strategic partnerships. This mentoring approach aligns with how Innovation Norway supports entrepreneurs via expertise, networking and mentoring (diva-portal.org).  By connecting personal networks and formal innovation infrastructure, the programme boosted both confidence and concrete financial readiness among women founders in Bergen.

Case 2 – Trondheim: At NTNU’s Social Innovation Lab

In Trondheim, youth workers guided female students to systematically explore entrepreneurial support systems such as university innovation offices, EU funding programmes, and local incubators. One student discovered Horizon Europe funding through NTNU’s EU advisory office, which supports researcher-entrepreneurs in preparing EU proposals. ntnu.edu+1 Leveraging these connections, she later joined a Horizon Europe–funded social enterprise focusing on circular fashion, working with NTNU researchers and textile companies to develop sustainable design models. Her journey illustrates how coaching, network mapping, and institutional support can turn student passion into transnational, impact-driven ventures.

Youth workers can apply a wide range of mentoring and coaching techniques to strengthen both empowering mindsets and entrepreneurial competences in young women. Navigating Androcentric Environments: Youth workers must coach young women to identify and articulate "resistant responses" when dealing with male-dominated environments, such as incubators or funding bodies, which are often implicitly androcentric and may reproduce male normativity. This guidance equips youth workers to assess whether local support programmes are truly "women-friendly" and provides mentees with strategies to counter systemic gender bias, ensuring that the psychological resilience built in previous modules is effectively leveraged to overcome external institutional failures.

Ecosystem Mapping Workshops: Facilitate sessions where youth workers and young women create visual maps of their local entrepreneurial ecosystem, identifying key actors such as incubators, municipal services, NGOs, and funding agencies. This promotes understanding of how these players interact and where collaboration opportunities exist.

Stakeholder Analysis Exercises: Use influence–interest grids to help mentees identify which ecosystem actors are most relevant to their entrepreneurial goals. Encourage reflection on how to approach each stakeholder effectively, aligning with EntreComp’s Working with Others competence.

Networking Role-Plays: Simulate real-life networking events or mentoring sessions. Youth workers can help participants practice introductions, elevator pitches, and follow-up communication to build social capital and confidence.

Resource Scouting Projects: Assign small teams to research available national and EU-level programmes such as Innovation Norway, Erasmus+, and Horizon Europe, and present how these can support women’s entrepreneurship. This helps youth workers and mentees strengthen Mobilising Resources and Spotting Opportunities competences.

Advocacy is not just political speak, in the context of youth entrepreneurship, it is a vital entrepreneurial skill. It empowers youth workers and young women to shape the very systems and institutions that influence their opportunities for innovation, equity, and growth. In the EntreComp framework, this maps strongly to the competences of Ethical & Sustainable Thinking, Taking the Initiative, and Mobilising Others. By developing these skills, youth workers help mentees go beyond launching ventures: they enable them to become agents of systems change.

Policy awareness, on the other hand, ensures that youth workers and young women understand how laws, public strategies, and funding schemes at local, national, and EU levels affect their entrepreneurial possibilities. For example, Norway’s Equality and Anti‑Discrimination Act (Likestillings- og diskrimineringsloven), which forbids differential treatment based on gender and mandates systematic work on equality, directly shapes the environment for women entrepreneurs. Regjeringen.no+2Kifinfo+2

 At the EU level, the SME Strategy promotes regulatory environments that favour small- and medium-sized enterprises, including streamlining access to funding and reducing administrative burdens. single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu

Advocacy is where knowledge becomes action: youth workers can help young women articulate policy demands, provide evidence, build alliances, and lobby for change perhaps pushing for gender-sensitive funding, childcare support for entrepreneurs, or more inclusive innovation programmes. Core principles of this section include:

• Policy literacy: the ability to read, interpret, and navigate governmental strategies, funding calls, and legislation.
• Advocacy skills: crafting messages, gathering evidence, and building coalitions (among peers, NGOs, institutions).
• Ethical action: balancing the drive for change with accountability, transparency, and respectful dialogue.
• Civic engagement: motivating young women to participate in consultations, committees, or public policy forums.

Stavanger:

A coalition of youth workers and female entrepreneurs launched a grassroots advocacy campaign during a national government consultation called “Entrepreneurship for All.” They engaged in public hearings, submitted written policy recommendations, and mobilised peers via local business networks. Their key proposal: a dedicated mentorship fund and subsidised incubator spots for underrepresented entrepreneurs, particularly women. Thanks to their collective voice, part of their recommendations was picked up by innovation policymakers, leading to the establishment of a small grant program aimed at women-led startups in the region. This process illustrates how youth workers can translate policy literacy and EntreComp’s Mobilising Others competence into real advocacy gains — influencing existing systems rather than merely working around them.

Oslo

In Oslo, a youth social enterprise network worked with local youth workers to engage with Oslo kommune’s procurement strategy. They studied the Oslomodellen, which includes social and ethical criteria for public contracts. Oslo kommune Through dialogue meetings, policy briefs, and joint workshops with the municipality’s procurement office, they advocated for procurement criteria that explicitly favor youth-led and social‑venture companies. Their participation contributed to stronger language in the city’s procurement strategy that encourages offers from small, innovative businesses and social enterprises. This process demonstrates how policy awareness (understanding municipal tender rules) coupled with advocacy can open real market opportunities for younger, mission-driven entrepreneurs.

Youth workers play a key role in helping young women understand policy frameworks and engage in advocacy. The methodologies presented here expand on policy literacy to emphasize active participation in civic life and systemic change. Youth workers are provided with frameworks to guide young women in designing targeted mini-campaigns or submitting evidence-based recommendations to local authorities (e.g., municipal councils or governmental consultation bodies), thereby turning policy awareness into actionable strategies that challenge the implementation gap between gender laws and their practical enforcement. A combination of practical tools, participatory exercises, and reflective discussions can empower them to act effectively:

• Policy Mapping Toolkit: This toolkit helps youth workers and mentees identify and analyse relevant policies, programs, and legal frameworks at both national and EU levels that influence entrepreneurship. For example, in Norway, youth workers can map the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act or the Innovation Norway funding schemes, while at the EU level, tools can highlight SME-friendly policies or Erasmus+ mobility grants for youth entrepreneurship. Mapping clarifies who the decision-makers are, which policies can be leveraged, and where gaps exist for advocacy action.
  

• Advocacy Planning Canvas: A structured template to define the advocacy issue, potential allies, target institutions, key messages, and measurable outcomes. This encourages strategic thinking, aligns efforts with EntreComp competences like Taking the Initiative and Mobilising Others, and ensures campaigns are focused and actionable.

• Public Consultation Simulations: Role-play exercises where youth practice presenting evidence-based recommendations to decision-makers, using techniques such as persuasive messaging, storytelling, and coalition building. For instance, simulating city council hearings or municipal advisory panels helps build confidence and understanding of procedural rules.
• Ethics Roundtables: Facilitated discussions where mentees debate real-world advocacy dilemmas, such as balancing neutrality versus activism, representing diverse community interests, or navigating conflicts of interest. These sessions strengthen ethical reasoning, critical thinking, and reflective decision-making.

Mini Campaign Projects: Small-scale, youth-led initiatives to test advocacy plans in local settings, such as youth forums, school councils, or municipal committees. These projects allow participants to practice mobilisation, messaging, and collaboration while assessing real-world impact. Outcomes may include policy recommendations, public awareness campaigns, or proposals for inclusive funding initiatives.

• How can you help a young woman identify and connect with key actors in her local entrepreneurial ecosystem?
• Think about a time when communication empowered someone to take initiative. What techniques made it effective?
• In your context, what barriers might prevent young women from accessing entrepreneurship support, and how could you address them?
• How might advocacy skills strengthen your work as a youth worker or mentor?
• What steps could you take to ensure that your mentoring approach aligns with ethical and sustainable thinking in entrepreneurship?

• Mini-Workshop Design: Create a 2-hour workshop plan on “Effective Communication for Empowerment,” including an opening activity, practical role-play, and reflection. Align objectives with relevant EntreComp competences (Mobilising Others, Working with Others).
• Ecosystem Mapping Activity: In small groups, identify and visually map key actors supporting youth entrepreneurship in your municipality or region (e.g., Innovation Norway, local business incubators, NGOs). Present how these actors can cooperate to support women’s entrepreneurship.
• Mentoring Scenario: Write a short mentoring plan for a young woman launching a social venture. Define goals, possible resource pathways, and communication strategies to build stakeholder support.

Advocacy Challenge: Design a mini advocacy campaign (social media, petition, or event) addressing one systemic issue faced by young women entrepreneurs. Reflect on ethical considerations and stakeholder engagement.

• Debate: “Which is more crucial for empowering young women skills training or systemic advocacy?”
• Peer exchange: Share one successful communication or networking method used in your youth work practice.
• Online poll: “Which EntreComp competence do you use most in your mentoring work?”
• Group task: Build a shared European map of youth entrepreneurship resources.

• Empowering communication is a tool for inclusion, confidence, and influence.
• Understanding the entrepreneurial ecosystem opens access to opportunities and support.
• Advocacy and policy awareness help drive systemic change and gender equality.
• EntreComp and LifeComp provide complementary frameworks for skills and personal growth.
• Youth workers facilitate connections between people, knowledge, and resources to create value.
• Practical tools like policy mapping, pitching labs, and mini campaigns enhance learning and application.
• Storytelling and digital skills amplify impact and visibility.