In 2010, The Invest for the Future program was initiated by the US Department of State under the leadership of Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton and Global Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues, Melanne Verveer. IFTF was conceptualized to focus on improving the economic situation for women across Southern and Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Through a series of events it brought together women entrepreneurs, educators, policy-makers, and civil society leaders to foster development and overcome barriers to fully realize the promise of gender equality and “smart economics”, as investing in women profits all of society.
There have been threestrategic regional conferences to build the base of the network. The conferenceseries included Istanbul (January, 2011); Zagreb (October, 2011) and Warsaw (November 2012). Each conference was followed up with additional support for training and networking. The Invest for the Future#Talent conference in Struga, Macedonia is the first of two conferences targeted at the region including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Current Organization
Based in Zagreb, Croatia the Invest for the Future network online initiatives are led by Tina Lee Odinsky-Zec and her team at Zagreb School of Economics and Management. She is also guiding the strategic development of the offline activities through a system of IFTF Honorary Country Coordinators. Sharing a vision where female leaders embedded in other organizations can help to identify needs and unite women through entrepreneurship has been gaining momentum.
In recent years there have been numerous initiatives launched to support female entrepreneurship and Invest for the Future aims to create synergy among individual and institutional efforts in the region. The niche IFTF can fill is in a strong online support network, an umbrella which will continue recognize and encourage talent and leadership platforms as well as recognize and celebrate emerging leaders and institutions.
Membership is currently free and open to all women and girls involved intent on developing and promoting female entrepreneurship across regions and sectors. IFTF is dedicated to creating a platform for exchange for the purposes of learning, networking and earning.
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