The general objective of the project “MENTORNET – Competitive women, a key factor in economic development” is to increase the competitiveness and adaptability of enterprises in the development regions North-East, South-East, North-West and West to the dynamics of economic sectors with competitive potential identified according to the NCNS and in correlation with the fields of intelligent specialisation according to SNCDI, by stimulating the development of the competences of entrepreneurs, managers and female employees. In SMEs in Romania, the pace of transformations is slower than necessary for our country to overcome the status of less developed country in the rankings of EU Member States on important indicators of competitive position. The contribution to improving competitive advantages is significantly reduced in the case of services, the largest economic sector, by 67 % of GDP, whose exports are at a small share of the world market and slightly decreasing. Improving SME indicators does not often lead to better performance due to significant delays in the development of supporting factors, especially transport infrastructure, capitalising on creativity, strengthening entrepreneurial initiative. Vulnerabilities of the private environment exist especially in terms of international investments of Romanian companies, productivity in the manufacturing industry, innovation, energy efficiency and the development of competitive economic agglomerations at territorial level. The contribution to improving the competitive advantages at territorial level, measured by the participation of the county economies in exports, is significantly unbalanced, in favour of seven counties located in the west and center of the country, which together with Bucharest (17 %) make 60 % of Romania’s exports. Therefore, it is necessary for SMEs to implement solutions that allow to overcome the obstacle to exploiting a competitive potential recognised on the market, but incompletely valued to create added value and prosperity, to create opportunities for professional empowerment of employees at any level of skills, to discover valid strategic alternatives and to develop effective strategies. The initiatives expected from the private sector, through which it can make the most important contribution to the overall development of society, also include courses of action with an impact on solving what the European Commission calls societal challenges, namely globalisation, demographic change, environmental degradation, migration, climate change, energy consumption, as well as the economic and social consequences of the crisis. As a result, the economic value creation activity now reflects the changing prerequisites of economic growth from the industrial to the knowledge-based economy, knowledge of sectoral, territorial and societal transformations. Basing the vision on the ecosystem