AIESEC Alumni Europe

SheSupp – a Swedish initiative to promote female entrepreneurship

March 30, 2017/0 Comments/in Talents /by Diana Severati

We are pleased to present you the story of another AIESEC Alumni, Jean Gombya from Sweden. We would like to thank Jean for sharing with us her story and most recent project.

AAE: Hi Jean, tell us a bit about yourself.

Jean: My name is Jean and I am your everyday 27 year old girl with a passion for helping other young women to achieve their goals. My background is in business, accounting and finance and I have throughout my career helped several companies with finance and accounting. My aim is now to use this knowledge and experience to equip young women for success in their businesses. I am a woman of faith and spend most of my free time with friends, family and in church. I love to travel and dance, well travel to warm countries (above 25 Celsius degrees that is!) J

AAE: What motivates you?

Jean: I think that my motivation partly comes from my desire to make a difference in the world as cliché as it may sound. My faith teaches me to give and help others and I also find joy in doing that which motivates me to keep going with SheSupp even through the hard times. Secondly I am a person who needs my freedom, I love to travel, I love to spend time with friends and family and would love to have the freedom to do that as and when I desire. So I guess the freedom for more quality time with friends and family is a motivator.

AAE: How and when did SheSupp start? Or I should I ask what inspired you to start SheSupp? How did you spot the market need for such an organization?

Jean: I have had the SheSupp idea in mind for quite some time. A few seeds were sown after having worked as a client manager towards small to medium sized companies for a large financial services company. By doing so I had the chance to speak to business owners and really hear their passion about their business and also the pros and cons about it. From there I developed an interest in using my knowledge to help them. I have always had a passion for empowering and encouraging young women to pursue their potential which has then led me to focus on that group. But it was only after a failed business attempt and when I realized that I really wanted the freedom to run my own business and do what I am passionate about that I really got the ball rolling in 2016. During that time I also realized how lonely it was to be a business owner and found that there were other women that felt the same. So it all started with a Facebook group that grew to about 400+ members and in late 2016 I decided to do a complete rebranding and changed to doing events and workshops to help the women in a more practical way.

AAE: What does the company do? What do you want to achieve with it?

Jean: SheSupp is a business network with a dream of inspiring and encouraging young women to start and grow their own businesses. We hope to create a strong global network of young female entrepreneurs to facilitate their growth and impact in the world.

The young women of SheSupp are able to find other female business partners globally and locally to make it easier for them to start and run their own businesses and grow domestically as well as internationally. SheSupp believes that if She can Support Her, there is a greater chance of all of us succeeding together, thus using the power of sharing to teach and learn from each other.

AAE: Tell us about the team you are working with.

Jean: I am currently a solopreneur. I did in fact have a fantastic girl working with me and who handled all the marketing and digital stuff, but due to her having to relocate I am back to being on my own. I have come to find that it is a good place for me to be in as I am still figuring out the success factors for SheSupp. By being a solopreneur I am able to make my own decisions and quickly without consulting anyone or involving my team, this way I can also adapt to chances and be more flexible with who I choose to collaborate with etc. In the future as SheSupp grows I do hope to hire a full team. However right now I am in fact looking for a tech-savvy person to help build an app!

AAE: What projects have you been involved with so far?

Jean: In my entire career I have been a part of several different projects from helping to set up a subsidiary in Sweden for a financial services company to volunteering in Uganda with AIESEC to help develop the organisation in Uganda. By working on these projects I found myself incredibly excited about entrepreneurship and also passionate about young women’s development. This in turn led to the start of SheSupp, so I am now building my dream with SheSupp and which in itself is just a big long-term project with several micro projects, it couldn’t be more fun!

AAE: What’s the most important thing you’re working on right now and how are you making it happen?

Jean: Right now in life my focus is on building SheSupp and trying to build a business that will help thousands of young women to start to pursue their dreams and dare to start their own businesses. I am working on a super exciting program that I am hoping to offer women in Sweden to be a part of, in order to help them start and/or build their businesses for success. It is a tough journey but incredibly fun. I am working around the clock, networking and ensuring that my name and SheSupp is visible to my target group and companies with the same vision or willing to invest in young women.

AAE: What are the plans for the future (yours and/or the company’s)?

Jean: My vision for the future is to grow SheSupp internationally. My hope is that SheSupp will be able to contribute to minimizing the gender gap amongst business leaders in the business world by facilitating for more women to have the courage and the opportunity to build their own business and if these businesses go well it will result in more women being in leading positions in leading companies. Kind of like a domino effect.

AAE: How can people interested get involved?

Jean: Well I should say to stay updated with what is happening on Facebook and Instagram as we have monthly events and will shortly be launching digital content to help our members’ progress with their businesses. So be it you are in Sweden or not you can still become a SheSupp member just go to the website www.shesupp.com and sign up and you will get newsletters and exclusive content.

Secondly if your company or you know of a company that would like to get involved in this kind of initiative feel free to send me an email on info@shesupp.com. Or if you know there is an interest for such an initiative in your country / town please do contact us as I am looking to expand and looking to suitable cities.

AAE: How can the Alumni community help?

Jean: I would love if the alumni network could connect me with powerful AIESEC alumni that could speak at events or hold workshops or even just become members or sponsors. I am currently looking for partners, and people/companies to collaborate with. So any recommendations are welcome. And of course spreading the word about SheSupp and the work we are doing for young women!

If you have any questions regarding this project, or any other AIESEC Alumni projects, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Salva

Show us your talent as Social Media Manager!

March 1, 2017/2 Comments/in Talents /by Christiane Stein

AIESEC Alumni Europe is looking for a social media manager to join our team and manage our channels (Alumnet, Facebook, LinkedIn and website).

As the key holder for our social media, you’ll be in charge of:

Updating social networks with engaging content, status updates, pictures, videos, and comments;
Planning, publishing, and promoting editorial posts;
Preparing a social media editorial calendar;
Engaging with alumni through our channels of communication;
Identifying trends and building new social media strategies;
Creating and promoting social media content in line with the AIESEC Alumni brand and AIESEC values;

You’ll get to engage and interact with the European network of alumni, actively seek thought-leaders, and help develop genuine relations between alumni from different countries connected through the same values. You’ll get to exercise your creativity muscle as well as have access to a big “drawing board” to put your own ideas to test. You’ll get a lot of virtual thump ups for riding the cool wave of AAE social media.

The position is set to start on 15th March 2017 and will run till June 2018. If you wish, it can be extended.

Found yourself? Email christiane.stein@aiesec-alumni.eu by 10th March 2017 and let us know why this is your position.

Registration open for European Regional Alumni Congress!

February 8, 2017/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Christiane Stein

The European Regional Alumni Congress is the annual congress bringing together alumni from all over Europe to meet, network and discuss.

The 2017 ERAC will take place at Hotel Roccamare in Italy from 18th to 21st May 2017. Parallel, AIESEC Alumni Italy will host WOWcheWeekend from 19th to 21st May, so you will have vast opportunity to meet Italian alumni, enjoy delicious Italian food and learn more about another National Alumni Association.

You can register now for ERAC with your Credit Card or by Bank transfer. All information about the congress, you will find here.

The fee includes accommodation, meals, conference fee and parties inside the hotel.

Early bird prices run till 21st February 2017.

Connecting communities through social entrepreneurship

November 11, 2016/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Christiane Stein

As AIESEC Alumni, we often search for ways to connect with our communities and continue the work we started as members. We will try to showcase the options you have as Alumni to be involved within your local and global communities.

Kiva is one such example. Kiva is an international non-profit organization, which was established in 2005 and is based in San Francisco (USA). Its mission is to alleviate poverty by creating a platform where people can connect through lending. The organization allows people to lend money to individuals or projects of their choice, for sums as small as $25. We got in touch with AIESEC Alumni, Lars Herrig to find out more about this organization.

AAE: Tell us a bit about yourself.

LG: I was an active member of the AIESEC local committee Bochum and with an active role for AIESEC MC Germany during 1985-1988. My last position at the LC-level was LCP and at MC Germany as “Beirat”, which was something similar to an advisory board.

AAE: What is Kiva and how did you get involved with it?

LG: Kiva is an American NGO, which offers the option to lend money from private persons as a micro credit to entrepreneurs in more than 80 countries of the world, using local partner organizations. You can lend money in sectors like agriculture, food, retail, service, education and much more. I was invited by other AIESEC Alumni team captains like Adeep and Wolfgang. I want to improve the impact of AIESEC in Kiva, and because of this I was appointed to be the fourth team captain of AIESEC @ Kiva.

AAE: How long have you been involved with Kiva?

LG: I have been a member of the team for a year now. Other members in our teams have been active in Kiva for 8 or 10 years already.

AAE: Who is on the AIESEC Alumni Kiva team?

LG: There are 183 AIESEC members or AIESEC Alumni active in the team. You can see all members using this link: //www.kiva.org/team/aiesec/members

AAE: What projects have you been involved with so far?

LG: //www.kiva.org/team/aiesec/impact I made 21 loans in 19 countries spread all over the world in education, construction, agriculture etc.

AAE: Which projects have stood out for you personally so far? Are there any specific projects you would like to showcase for our readers?

LG: I decided to invest in short term loans to be able to lend the repaid money as soon as possible to another project. I’m looking for sustainable projects in areas with difficult financial infrastructure.

AAE: Do you choose the microfinance projects as a team within Kiva or is it an individual choice of who to sponsor through the microloans?

LG: It is mostly an individual decision for which projects I’m supporting. Some members do not have enough time to search for interesting loans by themselves and they are interested in getting some recommendations. Sometimes there are special Kiva promotions. By following these promotions you’ll get some matching investments from other funds. This means that if I’m lending 25 USD to a project in agriculture, the fund will fund another 25 USD.

AAE: What would you say to someone who is thinking about joining the Kiva community? Why should they do it?

LG: We should support entrepreneurs all over the world, who want to be responsible for their own life and for their families by taking a loan, using it for an investment and paying the money of the loan back. In my opinion it is good to support people to do their own business in their home countries.

You can find out more about the organization here: //www.kiva.org/about. The Kiva AIESEC Alumni team of 187 members is currently supporting a total of 844 projects. Since its start the team has manged to fund 7894 loans and is actively involved in the organization. Below you can see a break down of the project sectors currently being funded, as well as the regions of the projects in question.

Please join the AIESEC team on Kiva: //www.kiva.org/team/aiesec

If you know of projects or initiatives which AIESEC Alumni could get involved with, please let us know. Let’s take one step further together to achieve the AIESEC vision. #SustainableDevelopmentGoals

AAE Summer 2016 part II

September 26, 2016/0 Comments/in Events /by Christiane Stein

AAIC 2016 in Warsaw, Poland

The second big conference of the summer was the AIESEC Alumni International Congress (AAIC) which took place between August 20^th – 23^rd in Warsaw, Poland. It brought together over 250 alumni from around the world. The main topic of the event was Entrepreneurship & Innovation. At the same time the 68^th AIESEC’s International Congress and the 3^rd IC in Poland was held.

The Agenda included a traditional Polish Evening on Saturday night, the new AAI board elections on Sunday and the Gala Awards aimed at honoring the most meaningful achievements of AIESEC members during the previous year, on Monday evening. Our team was happy to take part in electing and welcoming in a new full AAI board.

The Gala Awards consisted of three categories: Alumni to Alumni, Alumni to AIESEC and Alumni to the World. The Alumni to Alumni category was awarded to Lionel Simons and the Alumni to AIESEC category was awarded to Lofti El-Ghandouri. The Alumni to the World category was structured around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and was awarded to all four nominated alumni for their achievements: Stefan Palari, Michael Teoh Su Lim, Edna Aguinaga and Gunter Pauli. Congratulations to all awardees and the remaining nominees who became members of the Alumni Hall of Fame!

AAE Summer 2016 part I

September 14, 2016/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Christiane Stein

It has been a busy summer for our team. Over the next few posts we will give a short overview of the different conferences we took part in.

European Regional Alumni Congress 2016

This year’s European Regional Alumni Congress (ERAC) took place between July 7^th – 10^th in Germany, in Castle Stahleck, near the Rhine River. Organized by AIESEC Alumni Germany (AAG), its Board members and OCP Carsten Tonn, the conference was set up together with the AAG flagship event: The Rhine Cruise. This event has enjoyed a large popularity since 2005, with AIESEC Alumni from all generations with their families joining together to meet in one of the most beautiful parts of Germany and discuss topics, interact and just enjoy the great atmosphere.

This year was no different. Along with workshops on topics ranging from NAA development to the Alumni Theme Programme, conference participants had the opportunity to meet and share ideas with AIESEC Alumni from all over Europe. Overall more than 180 participants took part in the event.

The Rhine River and the entrance to Castle Stahleck

First day of workshops

The Rhine Cruise

AIESEC through the generations

New collaboration agreements within AAE

September 2, 2016/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Christiane Stein

Our team is excited to announce that two new collaboration agreements were signed during AAIC 2016, in Poland during this past August. Christiane Stein, representing AIESEC Alumni Europe, signed collaboration agreements with AIESEC Alumni Poland, represented by Renata Maroszek, Adriana Bernecka Vel Dzika and Andrzej Voigt, and with AIESEC Alumni Italy, represented by Salvatore Lombardo (Toto).

As part of our collaboration agreements we plan to work on further promoting the AIESEC Alumni activities, sharing best practices and organizing conferences and events targeted for our alumni community.

We look forward to a fruitful collaboration!

Adriana, Renata & Christiane

Toto & Christiane

Alumni Theme Program launch

August 6, 2016/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Christiane Stein

Engage AIESEC Alumni in Fulfilling Humankind’s Potential

AIESEC Alumni Europe (AAE) launched the Alumni Theme Program (ATP) in 2016 as a regional program to increase AIESEC Alumni’s positive impact on the world. AIESEC Alumni share AIESEC’s values of empowering People for Peace and Fulfillment of Humankind’s Potential.

Central to the Alumni Theme Program is a theme to be declared for a time frame of two years. During this period ATP projects should relate to this theme. All projects are to be documented and results recorded. These documents are centrally collected and compiled by AAE. After two years this compilation is to be published and a new theme will be defined.

Defining a theme will involve many stakeholders with AIESEC Alumni and will take about six months. The new theme will be decided on and introduced at an AAE conference. National Alumni Associations will be asked to embrace the new theme and support local ATP projects.

Publishing the theme’s result will be done in the form which fits best the theme, results and targeted audience.

AAE’s ATP is modeled on the Global Theme Program (GTP) which was run by AIESEC in the 1990’s. AAE has asked and was granted AI’s permission to run an updated Alumni version.

AIESEC Alumni Europe is AIESEC Alumni’s European regional organisation. It supports National AIESEC Alumni Associations in Europe by fostering collaboration, organizing conferences and running regional programs.

Two new European entities are collaborating with AIESEC Alumni Europe

July 30, 2016/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by Christiane Stein

This year’s European Regional Alumni Conference (ERAC) took place on July 7^th-10^th in Bacharach, Germany. Here AIESEC Alumni in Europe, represented by Peter Mandl signed two new collaboration agreements with AIESEC Alumni Belgium, represented by Jan Peeters, and AIESEC Alumni Portugal, represented by Anabela Matos. By doing so, we have agreed to work together to develop and strengthen the AIESEC Alumni community in both Belgium and Portugal, and within Europe.

Specifics of the collaboration will include working on the promotion of AIESEC Alumni activities, the facilitation and experience sharing of best practices, the organization of Regional Alumni Conferences and events and any other activities which will promote the alumni network.

We look forward to a fruitful collaboration!

Anabela & Peter

Jan & Peter

A new addition to the AAE board team

July 18, 2016/0 Comments/in Board /by Christiane Stein

We want to congratulate Florence Jumeaux on being elected for the position of NAA Growth Manager for the term ’16/’18. Florence is a headhunter for executive positions in a wide range of industries. She joined AIESEC HEC (Montreal, Canada) in 2008 and also worked for AIESEC in Gothenburg (Sweden). She went on two AIESEC internships in India where she lived for 3 years. She has been an active member of AIESEC Alumni France since 2015 and is a member of the board. Welcome to the AAE board team Florence!

AIESEC Fund cooperating with AIESEC Alumni Europe

March 12, 2016/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by admin

AIESEC Alumni Europe was represented by Christiane Stein and Peter Mandl at the General Assembly of AIESEC Alumni France in Paris. Before the event, both met with the founders of the AIESEC Fund: Jean Choplin, Victor Loewenstein and Arnould de la Boulaye.

After an interesting discussion on how to promote the Fund in Europe, Peter signed a cooperation agreement on behalf of AIESEC Alumni Europe.

Further details and information on the AIESEC Fund will be announced in the upcoming months.

Alumni Theme Program

February 16, 2016/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by admin

AAE likes to start an Alumni Theme Program!

ONE topic, THREE years, MANY countries/ NAA participating! We hope to start projects all over Europe to one theme for the next three years.

We see education and economy as the main topics for intercultural understanding. Decide now on the wording of the theme!

//de.surveymonkey.com/r/AlumniThemeProgram

European Regional Alumni Conference

February 14, 2016/0 Comments/in Events /by admin

AIESEC Alumni Europe will hold its second conference from 7th-10th July 2016 in Bacharach, Germany (at the river Rhine between Mainz & Koblenz).

A varied program will be offered from Thursday to Sunday with European Regional Alumni Conference, wine tasting, RhineCruise, key note, workshops, parties etc.. The modules are also available separately.

You can register on //www.aiesec-alumni.de/index.php/rhinecruise2016

The full program:

Thursday, 07 July 2016 Read more

StepUp – Window of Opportunities

November 21, 2015/0 Comments/in Uncategorized /by admin

AIESEC Alumni Europe started its first conference StepUp in Reims. One of the first sessions was the Window of Opportunities. AIESEC Alumni from all over Europe shared their profile, interests, assets
and needs.

Window of Opportunities