UNECE Awards
for Excellent Women Entrepreneurs
of 2002
Tuesday,
18 March 2003, 4.30 p.m.
(Palais des Nations, Geneva)
Geneva, 14 March 2003 - The
United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe (UNECE) Excellent Women Entrepreneurs
of the Year 2002 Awards ceremony will
take place at the Palais des Nations
on Tuesday, 18 March 2003 at 4.30 p.m.
during the Second Forum of Women Entrepreneurs
(http://www.unece.org/operact/enterp/women/forum2.htm).
The contest has been
organized in recognition of the contribution
of women entrepreneurs to the economic
development and social progress of their
countries.
Six awards will be
given, notably: The Best Start-up Entrepreneur
of the Year; The Most Innovative Entrepreneur
of the Year; The Best Entrepreneur in
Information Technology; The Best Entrepreneur
in Craft; The Best Entrepreneur Facing
Additional Challenges of Disability;
and The Best "3Rs" Entrepreneur: Reduce,
Re-use and Recycle.
The competition was
open to all women entrepreneurs participating
in the UNECE Portrait Gallery of Excellent
Women Entrepreneurs. In addition, all
new Gallery candidates nominated by
the Women's Business Associations of
the UNECE member States and by SME National
Focal Points, as the best representative
of their constituency, also participated
in the contest.
The first UNECE Portrait
Gallery of Excellent Women Entrepreneurs
in Transition Economies was launched
on 14 February 2001. Currently located
on the UNECE website at: http://www.unece.org/operact/gallery/,
this Gallery has already drawn together
nearly 200 women entrepreneurs from
32 countries.
A total of 41 applicants
from 20 countries were received by the
UNECE secretariat for the 2002 Excellent
Women Entrepreneurs contest. A brief
profile of the candidates is available
to view at: http://www.unece.org/indust/sme/candidates.htm.
In order to make the
evaluation process transparent, the
UNECE created an Awards Committee responsible
for establishing specific selection
criteria and for applying the agreed
general and specific criteria to identify
the winners. The Awards Committee was
headed by Ms. Brigita Schmögnerová,
Executive Secretary of UNECE.
The sponsors of the
competition included: Giselle Rufer,
President, DELANCE SA; Füsun Sarp
Nebil, General Manager of the Turkish
Internet Company; Ildikó Dobrányi,
Artist & Chairperson, Association
of Hungarian Tapestry Artists for Hungary;
Galina Koulaeva, Artist, Russian Federation;
and Ahmet K. Aydin, Vice-President,
AYDIN Co., Turkey. SWISS Airline kindly
offered free air-tickets to enable the
award winners to travel to Geneva.
For further information
please contact:
Antal Szabó
Regional Adviser on Entrepreneurship
and SMEs
United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe
Palais des Nations, Bureau 440
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: + 41(0)22 917
24 71
Telefax: + 41(0)22 917 01 78
E-mail: [email protected]