NewsU.S celebrates 20th anniversary of the Women's Business Ownership Act The Women's Business Ownership Act of 1988 is considered the 'big bang' for fuelling women's enterprise growth in the United States. In the two decades since the Act was introduced female entrepreneurship increased by a huge 19%. The landmark legislation created the National Women's Business Council (NWBC), the Office of Women's Business Ownership and established the Women's Business Center program - funding local resource centers across the country. The Act also made it a requirement for the U.S Census Bureau to count and record all women-owned companies. There are now more than 10 million women-owned businesses in the US, representing 40% of all businesses. Carole Jean Jordan, Chair of the NWBC called on all those involved in women's business ownership to 'join us in creating an even more successful future for women entrepreneurs '. The NWBC is backing the policy document 'The Roadmap to 2020 - Fuelling Growth: Women's Enterprise Development from 2009 - 2020' to be launched this autumn. http://www.nawbo.org/content_997.cfm Cabinet reshuffle fails to improve gender balance of senior team Gordon Brown’s recent reshuffle of the Cabinet brought more changes to his Ministerial team than expected – but the number of women in the expanded senior team remains unchanged at five, representing 22% of the total and the lowest female representation in five years. The Minister for Enterprise and Small Business, Baroness Shriti Vadera, now splits her time with Cabinet Office, leaving an otherwise male-only team in the Business and Enterprise Department (BERR) led by the new Secretary of State, Peter Mandelson, who replaces John Hutton. HM Treasury lost two of its female junior Ministers with Kitty Ussher moving to DWP and Jane Kennedy to DEFRA. Other significant changes include the appointments of Kevin Brennan to the Office of the Third Sector (replacing Phil Hope) with responsibility for Social Enterprise, and Barbara Follett, former Deputy Minister for Women moving from the Equalities Office to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) - replaced by Maria Eagle. See the full list of Ministerial appointments outside the Cabinet at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/05/2 Women to dominate workforce by 2033 'Soft-skills' will reign supreme in the UK workplace over the next 25 years according to new research from The Future Laboratory, commissioned by Microsoft. The shift towards the utilisation of female-orientated skills such as flexibility and lateral thinking is a reaction to the new economy model based around FMPB (finance, media, publishing and business). Jemma Harris, Microsoft Spokesperson commented "as these skills and creativity become the currency for tomorrow's economy, we'll see a greater shift towards more equal opportunities for women, and as this research demonstrates, they may even be in a stronger position than their counter-parts".http://www.onrec.com/newsstories/22862.asp Financial crisis As the international financial crisis continues to unravel business owners everywhere are feeling the strain of reduced credit and bad debts. Some good news from the Governments re-capitalisation of HBOS, Lloyds TSB and RBS though; as part of the Bank Reconstruction Fund they are required to maintain small business lending at least at 2007 levels, which were considerably higher than in 2008. Between them RBS, Lloyds TSB and HBOS represented 50% of the SME lending market in 2007. For further information see: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/statement_chx_131008.htm Groundbreaking initiative to drive women's enterprise policy and research The Prowess National Policy Centre (PNPC) launches this month in London. The PNPC will provide a dedicated resource to make the economic case for the development of women’s enterprise across Government and the private and third sectors and will provide a central repository for research and data related to women's enterprise. The PNPC is funded by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and was referred to in the Government's Enterprise Strategy of March 2008. Prowess continues its critical and independent role as a membership and advocacy association greatly enhanced by information and research from PNPC. For further details contact: policy@prowess.org.uk Professor Germaine Greer to speak at Prowess conference Prowess is delighted to announce that leading thinker and author Germaine Greer will be one of the key note speakers at the 6th Annual Prowess Conference. Germaine will share her thoughts on women's role as social and entrepreneurial innovators at a time of immense economic change. The 2009 Prowess Annual International Conference - Risk and Reward - will take place on 4-5 March 2009. Join key players in business support, policy and practice at what has become the key event in the women's enterprise development calendar. Host Sponsor for the 2009 Prowess Conference is the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). To register your interest in attending, sponsoring or exhibiting at the Prowess conference contact: Ann nicholls at a.nicholls@prowess.org.uk Business support simplification pilots launched, as Director predicts a 'muddle' Seven local authorities are trialling the Government's new Business Support Simplification Programme (BSSP), with full implementation planned for 2010. The seven local authorities will trial different aspects of programme delivery, some with their local Business Link. Topics to be trialled include 'how best to meet the needs of specific business groups such as creative, ethnic minority, women and young entrepreneurs'. Business Minister Shriti Vadera said "Businesses need grass-roots support that is easy to understand and access. This is what business tells us they want and we will deliver it". Meanwhile, Janice Munday, Director of the BSSP, speaking at the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA) annual conference said 'there will be a bit of a muddle' with the two schemes operating alongside each other for two years. Munday said it was up to the government to make sure any confusion doesn't impact negatively on business owners and support providers. http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/0/FC49B074E9DC1793802574CE0020FC5D?OpenDocument New Zealand economy hindered by enterprise gender gap The low participation of women in self-employment and their lower income levels is identified as a cause for concern in a new report by the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development. The 'Women in Enterprise' report concludes that 'New Zealand's economy may not be benefiting to the extent that it could from women's potential as business owners'. The report finds women in New Zealand have different motivations for self-employment, have greater difficulties accessing finance, more responsibility for unpaid work, lower levels of confidence, difficultly penetrating 'old boy's networks' and fewer role models yet concludes 'that based on the available evidence there does not appear to be a clear need for policies targeted specifically at women's enterprise'. Download 'Women in Enterprise' at: http://www.mwa.govt.nz/news-and-pubs/publications/work-and-enterprise/women-in-enterprise Free childcare for 50,000 families The Government has announced a new £75 million programme to support 50,000 low income families. The 'Free Childcare for Training and Learning for Work' programme will support families where one parent is working and the second wants to improve their skills so they can return to work. The initiative to be delivered through the Learning and Skills Council will be available in the 67 Local Authorities (LAs) with the highest number of eligible families from January 2009 and extended to all LAs by September 2009. Childcare costs of up to £175 per week per child (£205 in London) will be paid directly to the childcare provider. For further information see: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2008_0189 Micro-finance in Europe 'completely insufficient' says Commissioner A new initiative to support micro-finance institutions across Europe has been launched by the European Commission and the EIB Group (the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund). In launching the JASMINE programme, Commissioner Danuta Hubner said "There is a sizeable gap between the amount of micro-finance available in Europe, which is completely insufficient, and the number of persons wishing to create or develop their businesses but who lack access to traditional banking finance". €50million is available through JASMINE for capacity building for micro-finance institutions and potential co-financing operations. The project is due to start in early 2009. For more information click here. 50/50 Campaign for gender equality In 2009, Europeans will elect a new European Parliament and a new European Commission will be appointed. The “50/50 Campaign for Democracy” coordinated by the European Women's Lobby aims to ensure that women and men are equally represented among them. The European wide Campaign aims to increase the presence of women at the highest level of European politics and to encourage women and voters in general to participate in the next election. The campaign website www.5050democracy.eu offers tools to influence political parties and decision makers. |
|
Prowess Members' NewsSEEDA announce new head of enterprise strategy Julie Kapsalis, Director, Business Support and Enterprise at the South East England Development Agency has announced that Tiziana Boyland will be joining the team as Head of Enterprise, filling the post formely held by Katie Lloyd. Tiziana's remit includes strategic and policy lead on Enterprise Culture/thematic enterprise activity - specifically groups under-represented in enterprise (including women, ethnic minority groups and the 50+ agenda). Enterprise support for unemployed women The Prowess Flagship organisation NWES has secured a two and a half year contract from the European Social Fund (ESF) to provide unemployed women with training and mentoring services. The support will be aimed at women of all ages from school leavers to women approaching retirement age. It will provide assistance with a range of skills from CV writing to business development. According to Peter Gregson, Head of Business Development at NWES "We are offering unlimited continuing advice and mentoring. It's not just a couple of hours and then goodbye". http://www.nwes.org.uk/ Coventry praised for innovative work with businesses Coventry University is to receive a share of a £400m fund from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The fund is designed to promote knowledge transfer and partnerships between universities and businesses. Coventry University was praised by the fund coordinators for this innovative approach to engaging with business partners. The Institute of Applied Entrepreneurship at Coventry University Enterprises Ltd currently has Prowess 'Commitment to Flagship' status and will be working towards full Flagship status over the next 12 months http://wwwp.coventry.ac.uk/latestnewsandevents/a/4889 WEETU celebrates 21st birthday The Women's Employment, Enterprise and Training Unit (Weetu) has helped thousands of women since its launch in 1987. To celebrate 21 years of support WEETU will be producing a booklet of 21 profiles of success stories. If you have had contact with WEETU in the past 21 years they want to hear from you. For more information contact Kim Edwards on 01603 230625 or at kim@weetu.org Enterprise week is going global Enterprise Week 2008 will be part of the first Global Entrepreneurship Week, with over 75 countries taking part. Building on the success of last year, Women's Enterprise Day will take place on Wednesday 19 November. This year's theme is encouraging women to 'aim high and think big'. Remember to register what you’re planning for Women’s Enterprise Day, or during the rest of Enterprise Week, by registering your activities with a ‘Women & girls’ focus at: www.enterpriseweek.org.uk/register. By registering your event, you will also be eligible to order free Enterprise Week promotional materials. |
|
Opportunities for your clients This section is a new member benefit providing information you can use in your own client newsletters and websites. This regular section will include information on awards, funding, research and other opportunities of interest to your clients. This section is restricted to Prowess members. For details of joining Prowess visit: |
|
Social Enterprise NewsNew funding thresholds exclude smaller organisations According to the Directory of Social Change (DSC) a number of recent central government funding programmes exclude smaller organisations at the first hurdle. New eligibility criteria based on prospective applicants' level of income is overly restrictive according to the DSC. They cite as example the new Empowerment Fund, the 'Youth Sector Development Fund' and the new Department of Health main investment programme. For more information visit: http://www.dsc.org.uk/NewsandInformation/News/Newfundingthresholdsexcludesmallcharities £130m grassroots grant scheme opens its doors Grants of between £250 and £5,000 are available to support activities that lie at the heart of communities. The Grassroots Grants scheme is funded by the Office of The Third Sector and administered by the Community Development Foundation (CDF). For further information visit: http://www.cdf.org.uk/pooled/articles/BF_NEWSART/view.asp?Q=BF_NEWSART_305300 Communitybuilders seek national partner The Office of the Third Sector and Communities and Local Government have commenced a competitive procurement and are seeking expressions of interest from organisations wishing to become a single National Partner to deliver the £70m Communitybuilders programme. The purpose of the programme is to support the department's commitment to build more cohesive, empowered and active communities. The closing date for submitting the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire is Thursday 30 October at 12pm. For further information contact Maureen Rawlins on 0207 944 8029 or at maureen.rawlins@communities.gsi.gov.uk |
|
EventsWEConnect – Get Connected 2008, 1st Annual Conference, 31st October 2008, central London. Costs from £200 + vat (Hosted by Merrill Lynch)
(Limited number of bursary places available) For further information and registration visit http://www.weconnect.org.uk/conference2008 or call 08456 187302 The rest of this section is restricted to Prowess members. For details of joining Prowess visit: http://www.prowess.org.uk/about/apply.htm 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:
|
|
VacanciesThis section is restricted to Prowess members. For details of joining Prowess visit: |
|
MembersNew members of Prowess include: Walsall Endeavours Community Interest Company www.wecic.org.uk Coventry and Warwickshire Co-operative Development Agency Ltd www.cwcda.co.uk Peninsula Enterprise www.businesslinksw.co.uk Join Prowess and become part of the UK alliance helping women to start and grow businesses: 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 2008. 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 |
