In October 2023, WAKE’s Tech2Empower program brought a delegation of volunteer Advisors from top technology companies to Vilnius, Lithuania to provide technical support and mentorship to social enterprises that provide integration and relief services for refugees from Ukraine.
Tech2Empower Advisors also led a day of entrepreneurship workshops for Ukrainian women, with the goal of enhancing their technical skills as they relaunch their businesses and rebuild their livelihoods in their new community of Vilnius.
This was WAKE’s first program in Lithuania and was made successful through invaluable partnerships with Center for Equality Advancement (CEA) and Ukreate Hub.
Social enterprises and nonprofit organizations are well-positioned to drive positive change with their on-the-ground perspectives and deep connections within the communities they serve. Through its Tech2Empower program, WAKE unlocks the potential of volunteers who want to use their professional skills to collaborate with social enterprises and nonprofit organizations that seek consultation and training on impact projects to amplify and scale their vital social justice work.
The Tech2Empower Impact Challenge, held at the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) in Vilnius, Lithuania, was an intensive three-day interactive workshop followed by two weeks of dedicated virtual work. The Impact Challenge focused on empowering women-led social enterprises in Lithuania, all actively supporting Ukrainian refugees. The teams designed and implemented projects aimed at streamlining their operations and enhancing their impact to deliver on their respective missions.
WAKE paired the six social enterprises teams with Tech2Empower Advisors, selected for their expert technical skills. The Advisors offered targeted support and strategic guidance, ensuring each project was not only completed but also positioned for sustainable success and greater impact.
“Working with Tech2Empower for Ukraine has been incredibly inspirational. In just three days we accomplished and learned so much - we had just enough time to create a communication plan for a year. After the Impact Challenge we feel encouraged and ready for the future of our organization. It's truly an addictive inspiration!”
- Ieva Purvaneckaitė, Women’s Issues Information Center
The team focused on their communications strategy by taking stock of their various audiences such as international partners, government entities, local businesses, NGOs, etc. A communications matrix was created to efficiently pinpoint the best marketing channels, products and key messages suitable for each audience segment, streamlining the process of message customization. They also worked on their brand strategy developing a style guide and produced customizable newsletters, donor presentations and bespoke visual designs.
The team successfully overhauled their operational framework and resource allocation strategy to enhance support while ensuring organizational sustainability. They developed an organizational chart and established more defined job roles for their board members.
The team focused on refining their digital outreach strategy to engage new donors and communicate their achievements and overall impact to existing supporters. They crafted a comprehensive social media and communications plan, developed an elevator pitch to capture immediate interest, and designed a brand book to ensure consistent brand identity.
The team developed a comprehensive pitch presentation aimed at securing support from potential partners and donors to maintain their programs and initiatives. This included designing a pitch deck, drafting a formal letter to members of parliament for support, and refining their organizational vision and strategy documents.
The team designed an impact project to refine their operational procedures and to enrich member engagement. They identified key priorities and created a new strategic action plan as well as enlisted in Google for Nonprofits to bolster their operational and outreach capabilities. These steps aim to enhance member experience, streamline information accessibility, and increase operational efficiency, ultimately providing the team with more time to focus on value-added activities.
The team worked on their communication strategy with a goal of reaching wider audiences and improving engagement. They created a detailed one year plan for three social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, specifying both Ideal content type and platform.
Local partner Ukreate Hub conducted a needs assessment of women members who fled Ukraine and settled in Lithuania due to the war. The findings revealed many of them were entrepreneurs whose businesses were disrupted due to the conflict. A significant number of these women seek to reinvent and establish new enterprises within their host community. In response to this entrepreneurial spirit and to support the women’s resilience, WAKE collaborated with Ukreate Hub to organize Tech2Empower Day for Ukrainian Women Entrepreneurs at Tech Zity, a major technology hub in Europe. The event welcomed the Ukrainian women for a day of workshops and networking sessions led by the Tech2Empower Advisors, designed to facilitate knowledge exchange, technical skill development and community building.
Advisors led the following workshops:
“In such a short period of time, we were given incredibly interesting and useful information that I can immediately use in my business”
-- Workshop Participant
The Day for Ukrainian Women Entrepreneurs was a powerful meeting, bringing together volunteer Advisors with women from Ukraine for invaluable knowledge exchange, while also creating a space for the Ukrainian women to connect and build networks within their own community. The event underscored the profound value in recognizing that one’s journey is shared — that within their new environment, they are accompanied by many who understand their challenges and share their ambitions. Participants expressed they felt a sense of solidarity and community.
This program was made possible through generous contributions from Google and Tech Zity, which enabled Tech2Empower Day for Ukrainian Women Entrepreneurs’s success.
Tech2Empower Advisors - professionals from top tech companies - devote their expertise, time and resources to advance social justice, the rights of women and girls, and economic empowerment. The Tech2Empower for Ukraine Advisor community showed their strong commitment to learning and co-creating solutions with their Lithuanian-based partners.
Tech2Empower for Ukraine Advisors reported they:
“There is a saying, ‘if you are in the jar you cannot read the label.’ We are living within very fragile jars these days, but still with immense treasures to share, as well as personal growth and development to gain. Tech2Empower has provided me the opportunity to become a better global human through collaborating, learning and gaining lifelong friendships, all focused on amplifying our allies' work - the global women-led work for social change.”
- Renée Lahti, Linei Kōkua Advisory Corporation
This program confirms that we can make a powerful difference and have a significant impact by paying it forward and sharing our skills, talents, and life lessons with one another.
- Patricia Bovan Campbell, Tech2Empower Advisor
