It is believed that developed nations face only first world problems and their issues or challenges are different from that of the third world countries but Stella Mally, a gender expert, lawyer and social entrepreneur from Spain, tells otherwise. She mentions how she was drawn towards human rights issues during her law studies.
Stella didn’t wish to become a regular corporate lawyer, she wanted to carve out her niche in the field of social entrepreneurship. It dawned to her that she should fight for women's rights and empowerment. Her life took a 360 degree turn when decided to dedicate her life towards gender issues.
Stella holds multiple degrees and academic feathers in her hat. She is a lawyer with master’s degree in International Relations from the Barcelona Institute for International Studies (IBEI). She is a gender expert with seven years of experience in international project management in a multi-stakeholder environment, and a trainer for women entrepreneur mentors and mentor for young professionals and women entrepreneurs.
Not only that, she runs provision of consultancy services (legal, CSR, fundraising, research/analysis, project evaluation). Entrepreneur. Available for collaborations. At 33 years of age, the German has played several roles as project manager of a federation of Mediterranean businesswomen associations.
While she was working at the Mediterranean associations and field, she realised that even though women were very educated and qualified, there existed high levels of unemployment. She says, “I wanted people to realise that if they took up entrepreneurship, it could open new doors to employment. It could create new job opportunities. New industries and sector develop this way.”
Stella has coordinated ground-breaking research on women’s economic empowerment and implemented successful international business and gender projects, this international relations professional is currently developing a social enterprise aimed at supporting women both economically and socially.
Mally is also a voluntary trainer for women entrepreneur mentors and a mentor for young professionals and women entrepreneurs.
At the end, she concluded by mentioning, “Four points/qualities that she has observed are common among successful entrepreneurs: (1) Self-motivation- if a person is not excited, willing enough to see a change, to see his dream come true, if he/she doesn’t act upon the thought, nothing can come true. (2) Resilience- it’s the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. This quality is put to test all the more if someone is a risk-taker. (3)Think-out-of-the-box- entrepreneurship is all about competing and standing out, if a person can look at his/her environment & pick up opportunities, he is bound to have some extra knowledge than others. (4) Skill-sets- learning is a never ending process and one must have the agility to be on the move and learn as its a dynamic environment.”
BW Reporters
Soumya is a young writer and journalist, with bachelors in Multimedia and Mass Communication. She is an alumini of the Asian College of Journalism, and finds politics and sustainability intriguing beats to work with.
