FACE@RUB
Female Academic Entrepreneurs
Start-up programme for female students and early career researchers
FACE@RUB represents Female Academic Entrepreneurs at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum. It is the incubator for female founders at RUB. We want to inspire female students and young female academics to pursue their own start-up ideas and explore the world of entrepreneurship. FACE@RUB is part of the WORLDFACTORY, which was selected as an "Excellence Start-up Center.NRW" by the NRW Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2019.
Our Mission
Why offer a special program for women in the start-up scene? The proportion of women who start their own business is still at a low level. This is especially true for start-ups. Only 20.3% of start-up founders were female in 2022 and their share is only slowly increasing. The proportion of female founders varies greatly by sector: while the proportion of women in social entrepreneurship start-ups is already reaching 49.7%, it is significantly lower in the technology and digital sectors, which are more prosperous. With FACE@RUB, we aim to help more women turn their vision of starting their own business into reality and overcome the existing hurdles.
Our Vision
With FACE@RUB, we offer a platform for female students and young female scientists who are interested in founding a company to exchange ideas with like-minded people and to connect with experienced female founders and experts from the field of entrepreneurship and start-ups. We want to show that start-ups do not have to be a purely male domain and are just as diverse as the female founders we work with. After all, there is not only one right path leading to a successful start-up, but rather numerous models aside from the sole businesswoman or the million-dollar start-up. You just have to know them. With FACE@RUB, we want to establish a strong and active network of regional players to support our participants.
PROJECT SEMINAR
The project seminar provides compact knowledge for those starting out in the start-up world. Specifically, it addresses the following questions: Can I imagine starting my own business? What requirements do I need to fulfill? What actually makes a good boss? How can I develop my own ideas? And what opportunities does the RUB Makerspace offer to work on a start-up idea?
SUMMER SCHOOL
The Summer School offers the opportunity to take a closer look at the topic of entrepreneurship/start-ups and to develop your own initial start-up ideas. In addition to theoretical impulses from experts and workshops, participants will exchange ideas with female founders who share their own experiences. Specific start-up ideas are developed in groups and pitched to a jury.
FACE XELERATOR
FACE Xelerator is the first accelerator program for female founders at universities in Germany. The aim is to support female founders (solo female founders or founders in mixed teams) in their further development and implementation of their start-up projects. Together with experts and coaches, we accompany the participants on their next steps into becoming successful entrepreneurs. The program is funded by NRW-Bank.
FOUNDING A START-UP AS A SCIENTIST
Female scientists work in highly innovative fields of research - in all disciplines and faculties. In many cases, career paths are tailored to science. But what does it actually mean to set up a company as a female scientist? Are the respective research results even suitable for this? Do start-ups offer real career option beyond academia? In workshops and interactive discussion formats, the participants explore the potential of starting their own business. The basis is provided by the individual field of research - in the humanities and social sciences, health sciences or natural and engineering sciences.
