On October 11, the application for the scholarship "Female Entrepreneur of the Future" opens. The grant is aimed at female entrepreneurs who are either planning to start a business, or have started a business in the last year.*

Only a quarter of all entrepreneurs in Sweden are women, which is below the EU average. Since 1980, the number of female entrepreneurs has increased by one percentage point. To encourage more women to start and run businesses, the tech company Froda launched a scholarship for future female entrepreneurs in 2022. The aim is to give women who want to or have just started a business the opportunity to realize their ideas. The scholarship is worth SEK 100,000 and will be awarded annually to a female entrepreneur. In 2023, Miranda Matti took home the prize with her innovative homework help platform Lexflix.

- Sweden is below the EU average when it comes to female entrepreneurship. This is despite being one of the most gender equal countries in the world. To break the negative trend, we need more female entrepreneurs and role models. With the scholarship, we want to help improve the conditions for female entrepreneurs and give more women the opportunity to invest in their ideas," says Olle Lundin, CEO of Froda.

To apply for the scholarship, you need to either have started a business after January 1, 2023, or have a business idea that you will start up within a year. The application is open until December 31, 2023 and the award ceremony will be held on International Women's Day, March 8, 2024.

The application period for the scholarship is between October 11 - December 31, 2023.

Read more about the scholarship and apply here: https://froda.se/stipendier/framtidens-kvinnliga-foretagare/

About the scholarship "Female Entrepreneur of the Future"
The Female Entrepreneur of the Future was established in 2022 and is awarded annually to a female entrepreneur. The scholarship is SEK 100,000 and aims to give women with ambitions to run a business a start-up capital that enables them to invest in their idea. Requirements for the application are:

• Identify as a woman
• Registered in Sweden
• Of legal age at the time of application
• Not have operated a business before, or have established a business no earlier than January 1, 2023.

* After January 1, 2023.

Swedish fintech company Froda, together with Visa and Checkout.com, has developed a new financing product aimed at banks and fintechs that want to support small and medium-sized enterprises, a segment that has historically been difficult to reach, assess and finance without heavy administration, infrastructure and local payment solutions. The product now gives banks and fintechs the opportunity to expand internationally, without having to implement different solutions per market.

Visa enables secure and fast real-time transfers between countries, currencies and bank customers globally through its Visa Direct service. Now, this service has been integrated in a new way in a partnership with fintech company Froda, which specializes in financing for small and medium-sized enterprises, and Checkout.com, the world's leading payment solutions platform. The partnership has resulted in an innovation that provides a new, reliable and global method of disbursing business loans to SMEs.

- We know that the implementation of local financing solutions is a challenge for many players when they want to establish themselves in new markets. With this solution, we have created an entirely new infrastructure that is globally viable. By using Visa Direct, we can strengthen our offering in integrated corporate finance in different markets, thus helping millions of entrepreneurs with growth capital," says Olle Lundin, co-founder and CEO of Froda.

The financing product is offered through Froda Embedded and enables all Visa corporate cardholders to now also offer corporate loans without having to have all the infrastructure in place themselves. It will primarily facilitate traditional big banks and neobanks wishing to support businesses with capital, but it can also be applied to all companies that provide Visa corporate cards to their customers.

Demand for a product like this is high as small businesses have long struggled to access finance.In Europe, SMEs make up 99% of all businesses, employ 100 million people and account for over half of Europe's GDP.

- We are always looking for new innovative partnerships, products and ways to solve complex challenges. Finding new innovative uses for Visa's card infrastructure is definitely part of that vision. I am convinced that this is the future of payments and embedded financing," says Adel Naamneh, VP Global Strategic Revenue Growth at Checkout.com.

Unlike traditional corporate finance, which usually involves bank transfers and local implementations in new markets, Froda's product enables real-time transfers to over 200 countries. This means that money is transferred directly between accounts through Visa's card network. The solution is made possible through a partnership with global payment provider Checkout.com, which provides access to Visa Direct and the Visa Token service.

- "With this product, we are introducing a completely new use case for Visa Direct. My hope is that this will set a new standard for business loans and empower businesses across Europe in their ambition to grow," says Philip Konopik, Regional Managing Director at Visa in the Nordics and Baltics.

The product allows partners to offer a fully digital and automated credit assessment process and real-time credit decisions through Froda. Visa Direct also enables payments to be made without delay, reducing the time from application to payment to seconds.

The product was introduced in February 2023 and launched on the Danish market in June of the same year together with the digital bank Lunar. The product is offered to Froda Embedded partners who are providers of Visa Business Cards.

Fintech company Froda has recently recruited Albin Christiansson as Brand Design Director. With the recruitment, Froda strengthens the team to further develop the brand and visual identity.

- We are extremely pleased to welcome Albin to Froda. He has an impressive track record and has previously worked successfully in similar roles at Forsman & Bodenfors and SEB. We look forward to seeing Albin continue to develop our design work and build a strong visual identity for Froda," says Kajsa Lundborg, CMO at Froda.

Albin Christiansson has a solid background in brand design and has previously worked at Essen, Forsman & Bodenfors and SEB. At Froda, Albin will be responsible for the development of the visual identity and brand as well as working with the company's brand strategy.

- Froda is in an incredibly exciting phase, with new products, international expansion and a strong drive to improve entrepreneurs' financing opportunities. I am incredibly excited to be part of this great team and to be part of Froda's journey," says Albin Christiansson.

In addition to the recruitment of Albin Christiansson, Froda has doubled the size of its marketing department over the past year, recruiting four people to the team. The recruitments include Johanna Sturk as PR & Communication Manager, Sandra Khatemi as Brand Marketing Manager, Felix Lindholm as Junior Marketing Creative, and Johanna Bjurhammar as Growth Marketing Specialist.