The Break is an entrepreneurship Fellowship Programme in Spain for EU resident women worth +7,000 €. The Fellowship is funded by the European Union and powered by Impact Hub Madrid and Escuela de Organización Industrial EOI School. 280 female entrepreneurs will embark on a transformational journey: a two-month entrepreneurship programme, including a 28 day retreat in Spain. 

The Break 2022 fellows will work towards three common goals: Goal1: Break to Accelerate: high level training and alliances to take their entrepreneurial projects to the next level, Goal2: Break to Connect: cocreate a more sustainable and participatory female entrepreneur ecosystem across EU borders, Goal3: Break to Reshape collectively co-creating solutions to local challenges while learning and applying open innovation design methodologies.

Expenses covered by The Break are estimated in +7,000 eur and include: transportation costs from the European location of origin to Spain and vice versa, accomodation in Spain, the entire training itinerary (webinars, individual and group mentoring, workshops, program trips and events). Travel insurance and medical insurance. Expenses not covered by The Break: food in Spain and expenses related to trips out of the programmed group visits and medical tests related to covid-19 (antigen tests, PCRs…) Food costs are estimated in 20-30 eur per day.

The Break is part of the EU Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and is aligned with the Spanish National Entrepreneurship Strategy (España Nación Emprendedora), the long-term governmental vision to make Spain a reference country in innovative entrepreneurship before 2030. For the implementation of the first edition of the program, EOI has launched a public tender in December 2021 which has been awarded to Impact Hub.

All actions within the Spanish National Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience (PRTR) and therefore the Break Programme must comply with the principle of Do Not Significant Harm (DNSH). This applies both to the projects of the participating women entrepreneurs and to the sectoral challenges proposed by the Spanish communities. The DNSH principle implies that no action may go against the six environmental objectives for which the absence of significant harm has been assured: climate change mitigation, adaptation to climate change, sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources, circular economy, pollution prevention and control, protection and recovery of biodiversity and ecosystems.

The program starts in September 2022 (dates to be confirmed). During this first month, you will start your journey remotely. You will enjoy welcoming and networking events, webinars, mentoring and community sessions. 

Your community of 280 fellows will then be divided into two cohorts depending on their calendar preferences and availability (October and November). The first group of entrepreneurs (140) will travel to Madrid in the first days of October 2022 and the second group (140) in November 2022. 

After two days in Madrid, you will be grouped-up and travel to different unique territories of Spain to be hosted for a period of 24 days, an immersive transformational experience designed to gain knowledge and develop key skills, build strategic alliances, co-create solutions to systemic challenges and discover Spanish culture, nature and business ecosystem. 

You will come back from the hosting communities to Madrid for a two day closing event, after which you will travel back home. 

Phase 1 – September remote sessions

In September you will initiate your journey working from home. It’s a key moment to plan, think about your expectations, start connections and establish your objectives. 

• Enjoy our online opening event where you will meet all your fellows, organizers and talk about what you will experience and discover in the upcoming months. 
• Expand your knowledge and learn from business leaders through inspirational and training webinars. 
• Meet your mentors and co-create your working plan
• Learn from other fellows and share your entrepreneurial and life experiences through team mentoring sessions

Phase 2- Travel to Spain 

• Travel to Spain in two cohorts of 140 fellows (October or November cohort). 
• Enjoy a 2 day welcoming event in Madrid to personally meet your fellows, solve challenges, participate in innovation workshops and more!
• Travel to your assigned Local Innovation Communities in Spain for 24 days. 
  • Develop your business plan though one to one mentoring sessions 
  • Bring your skills, your talents, your creativity and play a crucial role in transforming your peer experience.
  • Submerge in your Individual work to boost your business.
  • Solve a local challenge through the latest  social innovation methodologies. 
  • Share your experiences and learn from other’s experiences through group mentoring sessions to share 
  • Meet local and international experts,entrepreneurs and business partners.
  • Experience culture, social life, food and all that Spain has to offer. 

Phase 3- Next Steps 

After the 28 days retreat you will travel back home to start implementing everything learned during your journey. 

• Participate in webinars to strengthen identified needs and a final meeting with your mentor. 
• You will develop a working plan for the upcoming months.
• Final closing Global Online Event, to share your experiences and opinions on the programme. 

Phase 4- Remember the Break

• The community will always be alive
• 6 months after the end of the program we will host an online event to reunite our community and share experiences

Note that the following requirements are mandatory:

• Women* candidates must be at least 18 years old. We encourage women of all ages to apply! 
• We are looking for open-spirited women determined to learn, question, boost their business and create an international community to transform our planet.  
• Have a fluent level of conversational and written English.
• EU residents (except residents in Spain) regardless of their country of origin.
• Be in charge or hold responsibility in an entrepreneurial project:

1. 1. Early stage: in case the business is not yet established, the candidate should have at least an MVP proposal or market validation proposal. 
   2. Have an operating entrepreneurial project with no more than 5 years since constitution. This may include start-ups, scale-ups or high growth businesses. 
   3. Be a Spanish national residing in the EU except in Spain, with an entrepreneurial project  and wanting to expand into Spain. 

• It is recommended that your entrepreneurial project is part of the following sectors (please consider them as opened and inclusive, we want to attract very diverse projects and skills): 

1. Industry: with sustainability and digitization as the main challenges for the improvement of production processes and competitiveness, and favoring a new industrial model based on collaborative innovation, productive means connected and flexible, transparent and integrated supply chains, and more technological distribution channels and customer service.
2. Tourism and Culture: sustainable and inclusive tourism, tourism technologies or travel tech, creative industries, generation and dissemination of culture, management of cultural and historical heritage, crafts and traditional trades, digital creation…
3. Mobility: both in urban and rural areas and that has an impact in individual and collective transport, freight transport, logistics, infrastructures and citizen awareness for a change of model towards sustainability and circularity.
4. Health: e-health or electronic health, m-health (access via mobile), innovation in the processes of health services, use of RRSS to interact with the population, development of new drugs and therapies, etc.
5. Construction and Materials: new buildings, more sustainable reforms and rehabilitations, new materials, intelligent automation and home automation, new models of property and/or coexistence (coliving, cohousing…)
6. Energy and Ecological Transition: energy efficiency in buildings and industry, renewable energies for a «decarbonized» economy, new technologies for energy storage, waste management, environmental restoration, circular economy, water efficiency…
7. Banking and Finance: innovation for a change of model both at the technological and interaction with its stakeholders, omnichannel, office of the future, etc.
8. Digital and Telecommunications: AI, supercomputing, cybersecurity, and all initiatives that help reduce the digital divide between populations in order to achieve real equality of opportunity.
9. Agro-food and livestock sector: especially aimed towards an ecological and sustainable agriculture and livestock.
10. Biotechnology: with specific applications in medicine, industry, agriculture or environment. 
11. Social Entrepreneurship: business initiatives clearly driven to solve social and environmental challenges specially focusing on vulnerable groups. . 
12. Rural development: attraction of professionals, support services for rural populations so they don’t have to emigrate, talent return initiatives, technological solutions, etc.

*Please note that this is a women-only event that intends an inclusive definition of women. We are welcoming and respectful of women, including trans women and any others who identify as a woman in a way that is significant to them.