This report documents and evaluates an EU-sponsored project, designed to test and develop the empowerment model in building networks among entrepreneurs - primarily female - to strengthen their businesses and their business skills. Specific skills to be developed were language skills and information technology skills. The participants formed a local network, but they were also connected to sister projects in Germany, Italy, Belgium and Holland. The Swedish network consisted of 40 participants, divided into two groups (one in 1998 and one in 1999) who met regularly in their large group as well as in subgroups during the year. They also took part in business related courses, and undertook a study visit to their sister projects in the fall. Most of the participants were newly started entrepreneurs, and the majority of the firms were sole proprietorships in the service sector. Four coordinators, themselves part of the target group, initiated and managed the project. Representatives from the local sponsors formed a managing group.

The report documents the project from inception to end, based on observations, interviews, document reviews, questionnaires and logbooks. Results as far as business growth and participants’ assessments of the project were positive. The majority of the companies increased their turnover during the project year, and no business closed. Three of four participants were satisfied, and three of four had their expectations, most frequently of networking with other entrepreneurs and of learning new skills, fully or partly met. Networking in a small group of peers where everyone gives and takes on an equal basis was the main factor producing the positive results. The groups provided colleagues, a sounding board, and a way to build entrepreneurial identity by mirroring each other’s experiences.

Based on the experiences in Empag, and on previous research on empowerment, we found that empowerment may be understood in two, radically different ways. We have labeled the first radical empowerment. It is built on consensus decision making in a group of equals. Strategic decisions are made collectively, while routine decisions may be assigned to members. It is a protest against hierarchical structures and it recognizes no formal leader. The “power” in empowerment emanates from the inner strength of the involved actors. We have called the other model mainstream empowerment. This is a management tool for making the actors stronger and more motivated, and thus increases efficiency. It is practiced within hierarchical structures with formal leadership. There are boundaries for what the group may decide and what management sets. The latter typically makes the strategic decisions. The “power” in empowerment is interpreted as redistribution of power and resources from higher to lower levels of the echelon.

The difficulties experienced in Empag centered on organizational issues, such as information and clarification of boundaries for decisionmaking. In the terminology of the empowerment models outlined above, the difficulties emanated from mixing the two models. Given the organizational constraints of Empag, only mainstream empowerment could be practiced. The spirit of empowerment in a more radical sense was, however, communicated and aspired for. Our recommendations for future projects concentrate on how to make mainstream empowerment practice more productive. The first and foremost suggestion is to communicate the nature of the model and its organizational constraints clearly. Also important is to consider leadership and group composition. Groups that are homogeneous as to goals, values and ambitions facilitate empowerment. Businesses of similar age, type, and size, and entrepreneurs of similar interests, age and gender make for a situation where the participants can give and take on equal terms. However, we do not recommend avoiding heterogeneity altogether. Learning to deal with ambiguity and the fact that different individuals may have completely different versions of reality is part of adjusting to the life of an entrepreneur.