News
Women better at business, says new study Female directors are more likely to be involved in profitable businesses says a new study by the information solutions company Experian. According to their research 57.6% of all female directors are involved in companies that make a profit, compared with 56.1% of male directors. Despite this success, female directors remain outnumbered by men in the UK's boardrooms by 3.3 to 1. There is just one town where the number of female directors outnumbers that of men - the small Scottish border town of Walkerburn - coincidently the home town of Prowess Executive Director Erika Watson! There are 22 female directors in Walkerburn and 18 male, this is the first time any place in the UK has recorded more female directors. For details of the research see: http://experian.global-pressoffice.com/press_releases.cfm?cntry=UK RDA writes 'Flagship Award' into business support contracts Advantage West Midlands (AWM) has become the first Regional Development Agency to include 'Flagship' or 'Commitment to Flagship' status in their business support contracts for all suppliers and sub contractors in the region. This significant move indicates AWM's understanding that female-friendly business support will help drive regional economic growth. A spokesperson for AWM said "contracts are on a commercial basis linked to performance and meeting objectives so this is something that new deliverers of business support will really need to take seriously". For details of the Prowess Flagship programme for excellence in women's enterprise development see: http://www.prowess.org.uk/FlagshipAwardPage.htm Minister names women's enterprise as key priority Margaret Hodge, the newly appointed minister responsible for small business says 'championing women's enterprise is a personal priority' for her. Speaking in an interview with The Telegraph she said that banks still view women entrepreneurs as riskier than their male counterparts and that this culture needs changing. Her other top priorities for business include encouraging enterprise education in schools and making universities realise the commercial/business potential of their ideas. Read the full article at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2006/07/11/cbhodge11.xml Women driving UK enterprise increase New research reveals a substantial rise in business start-up rates, with women entrepreneurs fuelling the growth. The Barclays Start-ups Survey shows a 23% increase in female-led businesses opening accounts compared with the same quarter last year. However the survey still reports a significant gender gap with 75,400 men starting businesses in quarter one of 2006 compared with 20,600 women. http://www.newsroom.barclays.co.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=695&NewsAreaID=2 Female social entrepreneurs lead the way Women are proportionately more likely to be social entrepreneurs than mainsteam entrepreneurs says the latest Social Entrepreneurship Monitor. Whilst women still record a lower Social Entrepreneurship Activity (SEA) index than men (2.8% compared to 3.6%) the gap is significantly narrower than the mainstream 'Total Entrepreneurship Activity' index where the gap is 3.6% for women compared to 8.2% for men. There is also evidence that women are more likely to be running established social enterprises rather than newer ventures. Download the Social Entrepreneurship Monitor at: http://www.gemconsortium.org/document.asp?id=501. £20m to train women as builders £20 million pounds is to be invested over the next two years in training more women to work in the construction industry. The funding, announced by education secretary Alan Johnson, will form part of the Train to Gain programme and is intended to support women who are disadvantaged in the labour market to gain full employment in non traditional sectors. The Government anticipates huge pressure on capacity within the construction industry in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. Download Johnson's speech at: http://www.dfes.gov.uk/speeches/media/documents/iodspeechasdelivered.doc For more information on Train to Gain visit: http://www.traintogain.gov.uk/ Cameron proposes tax relief on childcare Conservative leader David Cameron has proposed introducing tax relief on childcare for all working parents. Speaking at the National Family and Parenting Institute he criticised the current tax credit system for being 'breathtakingly complex' and too inflexible. Labour sources say Cameron's proposals would result in lower-income mothers losing out the most. The lack of affordable childcare is frequently cited as a barrier to women progressing in the workplace and developing growth focused business. The new war of words should stimulate debate. To contribute to the Conservative Party Childcare Questionnaire visit: http://www.conservativewomen.org.uk/poll.asp Further £67m announced for Enterprise Capital Funds Two new Enterprise Capital Funds backed by £67m have been announced by Small Business Minister Margaret Hodge. The funds are designed to combat the scarcity of equity capital and help innovative SMEs get the finance they need to grow. The £37.5m Dawn Capital Fund is aimed at traditional industries using innovate technology and the £30 million Midlands Enterprise Capital Fund will focus on investments in the Midlands region but will consider UK wide opportunities. For further details visit www.dawncapital.co.uk and www.catapult-vm.co.uk |
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Prowess member's news
Street Cred celebrate seventh year in business Street Cred marked the seventh year of their project with the launch of a new publication 'Making Microcredit Work: an East End journey' which charts the history of the project. During its 7 years Street Cred has provided business training to 350 women and issued 150 business start-up loans. To request a copy of the publication email: streetcred@qsa.org.uk Queen's honours for Prowess members Tracy Hegarty of Women in Enterprise (Northern Ireland) and Toni Meredew of Account 3 have both been awarded MBEs in the Queens 2006 Birthday Honours List. Many congratulations to them both on their achievement. Calling female Muslim entrepreneurs FATIMA Women's Network is working with the Organization of the Islamic Conference (IOC) on plans for a 'free to join' World Islamic Business Women's Network. Entrepreneurs and professional women are encouraged to register on the FATIMA website for further details: http://www.fatima-network.com or contact Parvin Ali at: parvin@fatima-network.com 'Need not greed' motivates informal working A report based on six years of work by Community Links finds that people taking 'cash-in-hand' low-paid jobs or not declaring work while on benefits are using it as a last resort response to acute poverty or crisis. The report 'People in low-paid informal work: Need not greed', sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation can be ordered at: direct.orders@marston.co.uk (£2.75 plus P&P) everywoman launch new look website The revamped everywoman website offers more information, advice and tools for each stage of business development, richer networking opportunities and a new online market place visit: http://www.everywoman.co.uk/ New opportunities for female inventors and innovators The Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network (GWIIN) and London Metropolitan University have come together to develop The European Women Inventors and Innovators Network. The initiative aims to provide a cost effective first stop resource centre for women inventors. For updates visit www.gwiin.com or call +44 (0)20 8 591 9964 2nd Annual Women in Business Open Day Wigan Investment Centre is holding its second Women in Business Open Day on 13 September. Women starting or running an enterprise throughout the Wigan Borough and North West can attend for advice, support and information from other business owners and business support organisations. This event is free of charge. For more information contact John Burns at: jburns@wmdc.org.uk |
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Events
Global Banking Alliance for Women World Summit 2006 Bank of Scotland's Women in Business team is delighted to host the Global Banking Alliance for Women World Summit 2006 in Glasgow on November 8th and 9th. This is the first time the GBA/ World Bank women's summit has taken place in the UK and is set to be a tremendous opportunity for the women's enterprise agenda. The summit will bring together delegates from across 15 countries and has attracted world-class international speakers, providing an excellent forum for the sharing of international best practice and the forging of valuable trade links. Supply is likely to exceed demand and registration will open shortly. We are advising Prowess members early and if you are interested in attending please contact womeninbusiness@bankofscotland.co.uk The cost of the conference is just £200. If you have any difficulty paying this fee, please do contact us to discuss, as we would like to see you there.
This section is restricted to Prowess members. For details of membership click here For details of events aimed at women entrepreneurs taking place in your area click on the map below, members remember you can add your events to the Prowess online clickable map quickly and easily at no cost:
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Awards
This section is restricted to Prowess members. For details of membership click here |
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New Research
This section is restricted to Prowess members. For details of membership click here |
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Vacancies
Freelance business advisors and trainers The Women's Business Development Agency (WBDA) is looking to recruit:
For further information contact WBDA at admin@wbda.co.uk CVs and covering letters should be sent to WBDA by 25 August. (These new vacancies are part of the Regional Women's Enterprise Unit (RWEU) - a partnership project by WBDA, Prowess, WiRE funded by AWM, ESF and SBS). For the further details about WBDA visit: www.wbda.co.uk | |
Members
New Members of Prowess include: Stevenage Business Initiative www.sbi-herts.co.uk Mid Anglian Enterprise Agency Ltd (MENTA) www.menta.org.uk Arun Enterprise Gateway www.arunenterprisegateway.co.uk Reading Enterprise Gateway www.readingenterprisegateway.co.uk Surrey Enterprise Gateway www.surreygateway.co.uk Chilterns Enterprise Gateway East Kent Enterprise Gateway www.eastkent.enterprisegateway.net London Borough of Camden: Camden Women’s Forum www.camden.gov.uk/business Balancing Business Ltd www.balancingbusiness.co.uk National Federation of Enterprise Agencies www.nfea.com
Click here for details of Prowess membership |
Prowess – The UK association of organisations and individuals who support women to start and grow businesses.Please send comments and news or information sources to a.kent@prowess.org.uk by the 28th of the month. If this newsletter has been forwarded to you and you would like to be kept informed about Prowess please e-mail your contact details to a.kent@prowess.org.uk . Let us know too if you want to be taken off the mailing list at any time. This newsletter is produced for information only. While we believe the content is accurate we can accept no responsibility for any errors or omissions. Prowess is happy for recipients to forward and redistribute items in this Ezine, however we ask that Prowess is credited as the source and that where appropriate there is a link to our website. © Prowess Ltd 2006. Lion House, 20-28 Muspole Street, Norwich NR3 1DJ Tel 01603 762355 Fax 01603 227090 www.prowess.org.uk - the UK-wide gateway to local women friendly business support |
