Association for Women Entrepreneurship Development
Association for Women Entrepreneurship Development is a NGO, set up in 2001
that has the mission to promote and support entrepreneurial activity for women
by applying gender equality.
ADAF is founding member of the
Coalition of Business Women Associations in Romania (CAFA), of the
Coalition of Balkan Business Women Associtions and founding
member of the Pact for Employment and Social Inclusion in Bucharest-Ilfov Region.
ADAF has started to develop its own network by opening 3 branches at the
regional level in Slobozia, Pitesti and Oltenita.
ADAF is housing an Women Resource Center that was set up within the WefNET
Project. It has signed partnership agreements with similar organisations from
Varna-Bulgaria, France, Italy, Greece. ADAF
is national leader for promoting participants from Romania at the
International Forum-Culturallia.
Starting 2015 within ADAF a Center for Entrepreneurial Development is
running that has signed Cooperation Protocols with the Ilya Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (Greece) and the Professional Training Center from Pyrgos-Greece.
The main objectives of ADAF are to:
- promote and develop entrepreneurial and associative culture among the women and support women entrepreneurial activity by training, information and services;
- implement gender equality on the labor market;
- encourage private initiative taken by women and develop their capacities of action and leadership;
- involve itself in advocacyand public debates for improving the legislation in force and business climate;
- develop the behaviour of businesswomen based on social responsability;
- enhance the cross-border cooperation with similar public and private organizations from the country and abroad;
- participate in national and international projects.
The ADAF’s members are women owner or manager of small, medium and large
companies in businesses covering a large area, such as: ready-made garments
industry, import-export, distribution, trade, IT&C, transpotation,
consultancy, education, research, human
resource management, audit etc.
The ADAF’s initiatives to support women entrepreneurship development
- help-desk for Winner III (UNDP project on e-commerce for women);
- organizing, with the German Foundation Konrad Adenauer, on 27-28 Aprilie 2004 the seminar „The development of entrepreneurial and associative culture among women”;
- training on how to start up a business with girls in the town Slobozia;
- training women for business at the SMEs fair etc;
- participating annually in the FEMINA STAR, event devoted to promoting women entrepreneurship, organized by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ialomita county.
- launching the ADAF’s Excellency Award, in the presence of the President of Romania, in 2004 and 2005 within the „Business Excellency Top” annual event.
International Cooperation of ADAF
In order to enhance the international cooperation, an ADAF’s delegation
participated in October 2001 in the first Women Entrepreneurship Forum
organized by European Economic Commission of United Nations- UN/ECE, in the premises
of the United Nations Palace in Geneva. Thanks to the involvement of ADAF, a
number of 25 Romanian women success stories have been posted on the „Virtual
gallery of excellency business women” hosted by UN/ECE web-site.
The international agenda of ADAF included participation of its members or
representatives in the Women Trade Fair in Madrid (in November 2006), in the
International Conference „Business powered by women” (June 2007, NoviSad-
Serbia); the International Forum of Women Entrepreneurs (in Bari, September
2007), in the International Forum of Women Entrepreneurs in
Bulgaria (26-30 September 2008 in Sofia and Plovdiv), South-East Europe Women Entrepreneurs
Forum in Istanbul (September 2010 event
organised by the Regional Cooperation Council of SEE), Global Summit of Women
(in Athens - 2012, Kuala-Lumpur -2013,
Paris-2014), Peer review meeting good practices in the area of women’s
entrepreneurship organised by the European Institute of Gender Equality in
Athens, Vilnius and Riga (2014).
Board of Directors:
Cornelia Rotaru, Ph.D- President
Prof. Dr. Mariana Nicolae – Vice-president
Liana Antonina Ionita – Vice-President
