WUNRN
ICELAND - WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS -
PROGRESS, GROUPS FOR SUPPORT, CHALLENGES
By Lowana Veal
REYKJAVIK, Mar 24, 2012 (IPS) - "We want to hear
each others’ stories on how we have coped with changes, how we have got to
where we are now and thus how we can be an inspiration to others," says
Anna Loa Olafsdottir, one of the people behind a group of women in southwest
Iceland who call themselves SKASS.
SKASS (Association of Dynamic, Serious and Creative Women)
from Sudurnes region, southwest Iceland, was set up in the spring of 2010 to
"encourage women to let their dreams be true, whether this is to do with
business, establishing a company or something entirely different,"
Olafsdottir tells IPS. "Whether this is different to how men operate is
something that every woman must answer herself."
FKA (Icelandic Association of Women Entrepreneurs) is a
group of women entrepreneurs in Reykjavik. Founded in the spring of 1999, FKA
grants annual awards to individual women or women running companies.
The awards announced in January went to an 83-year-old woman
who opened a shop in 1965 and still works there; to a new human resources
company called Attentus run by three women with the aim of providing personnel
services to companies; to a woman who now runs a highly successful
whale-watching business; and to a company called Ja.is that is now run by two
women who bought out the company in late 2010 in conjunction with an investment
fund called Audi 1.
FKA’s decision to reward the company has been controversial.
Critics have pointed out that Ja.is closed two out of its four locations last
year and that many women lost their jobs as a result.
One critic is Dominique Pledel Jonsson, who had been a
member of FKA since 2005 until deciding to resign because of FKA’s decision to
reward Ja.is. "I believe that women can offer a different business world to
men," she tells IPS. "But women are best at everything they do only
if they do so on their own grounds, not if they mimic men and become as
ruthless and greedy as them or form women’s clubs instead of old boys’
clubs."
Audur Capital is one of the few financial entities in
Iceland which survived the banking crisis without losing money for their
customers. It was set up in 2007 by two highly placed women in the financial
sector who wanted to create a financial services provider that acted
differently to the norm – one which set responsible behaviour, candour and
feminine values above short-term profit and greed.
When developing their business model, the firm used a 2007
report published by Barclays that quotes research carried out by a
women-oriented research body called Catalyst, which showed that companies with
the highest female representation on their senior management teams enjoyed a 34
percent higher return on equity than did firms with the lowest representation.
One of their main offerings is Audur 1, a private equity
fund that primarily seeks investment opportunities in businesses with a high
growth potential that are managed or owned by women. For instance, Audur 1 has
substantial investments in Ja.is.
The Innovation Centre Iceland has set up a 15-week course
called Brautargengi for women who have a business idea in mind and want help
bringing it to fruition. The course involves 75 hours of class time, but in
addition participants are expected to spend at least 10 hours a week on
developing their pet project.
About 20 women attend each course in Reykjavik, but fewer
attend those held outside the capital. Selma Dogg Sigurjonsdottir, project
manager for the courses outside Reykjavik, says that "women come with all
sorts of ideas: design, tourism, various kinds of manufacturing and other
service-oriented projects."
In 2010, researchers at the University of Iceland carried
out a study on the effectiveness of Brautargengi, in which all participants who
attended a Brautargengi course between 2001 and 2009 were contacted. "The
results showed that 55 percent of those who replied had got a company running,
19 percent were developing a business idea and only 26 percent were doing
something else," Sigurjonsdottir told IPS.
Dagny Reykjalin, a graphics and web designer, established
the design and advertising company Blek in 2010 after taking the Brautargengi
course in business administration in Akureyri, North Iceland. "After two
years in operation, Blek has formed a well- established client base from all
around the country as well as overseas," she says.
Reykjalin is in touch with others from her course who have
already set up businesses. One set up a photography studio, another an
architect business, while a third, Bjarkey Sigurdardottir, is a soprano singer
who sings at weddings, funerals and christenings.
But some women are not satisfied with the current situation
or the options open for women who want to set themselves up in business. One of
these is retired social worker, Gudrun Jonsdottir, who was one of the founders
of a feminist political party, the Women’s List. The party was set up 40 years
ago but has now been absorbed into the Social Democratic Alliance, one of the
ruling parties in Iceland.
Jonsdottir explains that "the number of women in
politics has certainly increased, which is also seen in the increasing number
of women who run companies or who are in start-up companies, but it is
exceedingly rare for these women to threaten, preach and try to change the
existing system, or to lay down the foundations of values which to my mind
consist of feminist thinking in which caring, joint responsibility,
empowerment, decentralisation of power and opposition to both ever-increasing
consumerism and economic growth are core values.
"I feel that we women now are at a dead end, trusting
in state feminism which I feel is based on legally granting women the same
rights as men. These are human rights, but I want us to aim higher, towards
overturning society’s values."
For the third year running, Iceland tops all other countries
on the Global Gender Gap Index, ahead of Norway, Finland and Sweden. However,
when it comes to economic participation and opportunity, Iceland is only ranked
24 on the list.