About
RML is a business network for owners and executives, a space of trust, reflection, knowledge sharing and business improvement, in group and in bilateral contacts.
Its members are executive board members of high performance companies, many of which are PME Líder or PME Excelência (SME Leader and SME Excellence, national awards for financial performance).
The predominant sectors are manufacturing and knowledge intensive business services.
Benefits for the women entrepreneur
- peer learning
- advisory board or peer advising
- fostering alliances and business between members
- connection to international networks
The journey
Over the last few years, there were several studies about the correlation between organizational excellence and gender diversity in top management.
A number of independent researchers and large consultancies have argued that companies in which gender diversity extends to the top of the hierarchy present:
- Better operational and financial performance;
- Increased innovation in business;
- Improved group performance and increased problem-solving ability;
- Relevant reputation gains.
In order to give visibility to gender diversity as a way to increase innovation, competitiveness and high performance in companies, IAPMEI launched the RML, Rede Mulher Líder in 2017.
The project was co-created during 2016 with a group of industrial and knowledge intensive business services SME’s. It was designed and implemented with a group of 15 women entrepreneurs, belonging to 14 companies.
Recently, RML has become a private business association, maintaining the well-established cooperation with IAPMEI, the Portuguese SME Agency.
Value for the entrepreneurs:
- Identifying identical situations in different realities and with diverse responses. That sometimes leads to a change in their strategic framework.
- Sharing experiences. It allows them to break down isolation, step back from their management routine and think about aspects related to the business instead of reacting to daily operational demands.
ADMISSION CONDITIONS
This is an invitation only access network.
If you would like to become a member, please contact us.
Below, you will find the conditions that give you access to RML – the requirements of the Administrator and the Company are cumulative.
New entries are evaluated by the Association’s board of directors and the assessment is made based on the woman’s profile, her specific skills to contribute to the Network and the profile of her company.
Executive requirements
The candidate needs to be president, executive director, general director or even intermediate director preparing succession to top positions.
The association accepts executives with:
- Willingness to share your experience and absorb experiences from others, in a logic of training among peers and exchanging of good practices.
- Ability to respect spaces of trust and confidentiality associated with the exchange of information within the Network.
- Interest in taking advantage of national and international networking to enhance your business.
Company requirements
The company needs to be high performing in the following sectors:
- Tradable goods, although not necessarily exporting – industry, T-KIBS (knowledge-intensive companies with the following CAE: 61 to 63, 70 to 75), construction, logistics and tourism (with robust and/or differentiating projects).
- Commercial, with significant export activity.
- Or be relevant to the region where it operates.
The preferred, but not mandatory, factors are:
- PME Líder and PME Excelência mature companies.
- Large companies with a track record of cooperation with other dimensional classes.
- Fast-growing start-ups with a three-year sales track record, with exports and sales last year exceeding one million euros.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
RML is a meeting and learning point for women entrepreneurs from the most diverse sectors, whose main objective is the sharing of knowledge, experiences and contacts.
Through monthly visits to companies, or thematic meetings, this network, coordinated by IAPMEI, encourages collaboration and discussion of common themes ranging from management, growth, trade, innovation, people and sustainability, among others. RML thus fosters a culture where sharing and not keeping to yourself becomes “the soul of the business”, in a constructive posture of growth, both personal and professional.
RML is an enriching network at all levels. Each meeting is a great learning experience, and each event in this Network is about mingling, making friends, sharing, and above all, a lot of business support issuing from debating themes that, in the end, are transversal to all companies.
It is an honor for me to be able to participate and be part of a group like this, with whom I learn so much, every day.
I am a member of Rede Mulher Líder since 2017 and it has been very rewarding to see it grow and assert itself in our business fabric.
Being able to share knowledge with best national managers is as much a privilege as it is a challenge.
We all, members of RML, have a lot to thank to our first colleagues who helped design RML, and IAPMEI, who launched the project and helped keep it going and growing all these years.
What I wanted and obtained with the participation in this network:
1. While entrepreneur, it was my goal to: broaden my network of contacts; learn by example; get new sources of inspiration; identify (and possibly try to replicate) good practices in use in other companies; identify common affinities / problems for top managers in companies of a similar size to mine, and discuss measures already tested / validated for solving these problems.
2. For my company, I wanted to: sell, on advantageous terms (similar to those offered to resellers), Castelbel products to network members, for use in their premises or corporate gifts (to customers / partners / suppliers / collaborators, etc.); to acquire, on advantageous terms, goods supplied or services provided by undertakings managed by members of the network; share information on common customers; increase the exposure / awareness of the company through joint participation (with other members of the network) in promotional events and other international trade fairs.
The greatest benefit of any network is to broaden our contacts and enhance our experience. RML puts in contact women entrepreneurs of high performance companies, in diverse sectors, but with common problems and needs.
Because top management is solitary by nature, so far, in this network, we have broken insulation, and we have left a very absorbing activity of daily life to share problems, find good examples and new solutions.
In the future, who knows? Can we influence service providers? Share businesses? Create new businesses? We have to wait and see. In the immediate horizon, this network fosters innovation. For companies like mine, that is absolutely fundamental.
I was invited to join the network in 2017.
The possibility of sharing experiences, difficulties, problems with other women entrepreneurs has helped me to develop skills, improve strategic thinking and, in many cases, in decision making.
The fact that we are women and of many business areas that share different experiences and have common problems helps us to broaden our range of knowledge and improve the performance of our companies.
For me, network meetings are also a space and a moment of reflection.
The connection of RML to international business facilitating networks is also an advantage that may prove to boost my companies growth in the future.
Although I joined RML recently, I have already felt a number of benefits and, above all, a great pride to belong to such a dynamic and interesting organized group of entrepreneurs. The exchange of experiences and useful information for business and management have been fantastic through group activities with visits, debates and workshops in the different companies visited, thus increasing our knowledge – it has been enriching and an opportunity to escape our daily routine and look “out of the box” to our own reality. Other perspectives and different realities help us broaden horizons and reach further for results.
The network has also provided direct-buying and cross-selling opportunities.
There is also the objective of providing and expanding joint projects and links at an international level, in order to promote business growth.
My participation in this network has been a very positive and, honestly, an indispensable experience.
These visits provide a sharing of experiences and ideas even in areas totally divergent from those we manage in our day-to-day life. I believe they are an essential investment for our personal growth as Board, as well as for the continued growth of our companies.
The time spent is a small effort, considering the inspiration resulting from the diversity of ideas and contact.
* Aldina Coimbra, Embeiral Group * Carla Carreira, Macolis * Carolina Breda, Bresimar * Mara Almeida, Ename * Marta Carvalho Araújo, Neonia, ex-Castelbel * Marta Casimiro, Meat Heritage * Sónia Calado, DRT Group * Rita Nabeiro, Adega Mayor *
MANAGEMENT TEAM
Although IAPMEI, the state agency,
remains on the project as facilitator, the 8 year old project gave way to a private business association, thus ensuring its continuity and stenghtening.
The management team of Business Association RML:
Maria da Purificação Tavares, CGC Genetics, Unilabs Group | Amélia Santos, Innuos | Maria Isolina Mesquita, Bluepharma | Mara Almeida, Ename | Marta Carvalho Araújo, Neonia (by Illusionarium) | Cláudia Novo, Erofio Group | Lídia Tarré, Gelpeixe | Filomena Frade, Louritex | Ana Roque, Porcel | Juliana Oliveira, Olimec | Sónia Calado, DRT Group | Rosário Breda, Bresimar | Carla Gonçalves Pereira, Sinase | Rita Seabra, IAPMEI, State Agency