FOLLOWING a tour of the new councils, from CEO John Kelpie’s office in Derry/Londonderry with those views over the Foyle to the gothic splendour of Steven Reid’s offices in The Castle, ancestral home of the Ward Family in Bangor, there is no mistaking that these could be the super councils we all need.
The 11 councils now have responsibility for promoting enterprise. Therefore a key objective of my trip was to highlight the importance of specific female enterprise support. I am delighted to confirm that each and every one I spoke to said I was pushing an open door. In particular, Belfast City Council, long-time supporters of Women in Business, has their door held wide open via chief executive Suzanne Wylie and assistant chief executive and director of organisation development Jill Minne.
But lets look at the context first. According to the Total Early Stage Entrepreneurial Activity GEM Report 2013, Northern Ireland remains the lowest level for early stage entrepreneurship in the UK.
In Northern Ireland, there is less than half the amount of female early stage entrepreneurs as there are males. Furthermore, the numbers are lower in comparison to presence in other areas in the UK.
The European Institute for Gender Equality says that boosting the number of women entrepreneurs would: “increase the quantity and quality of the business population”. The report “Maximising women’s contribution to future economic growth” by the Women’s Business Council contends that: “if women were setting up and running new businesses at the same rate as men, we could have an extra one million female entrepreneurs”.
Figures released by the Women’s Resource and Development Agency show that if women were to equal men in enterprise there could be 28,000 more female-owned businesses in Northern Ireland, and moreover if women achieved the same rate as those in Britain, there would be an additional 10,000 businesses.
What a great opportunity to be grasped! The case is made and the opportunity huge, a minimum potential 28,000 jobs for NI with the potential of each of these business women recruiting staff!
This is a no-brainer but budgets are tight and specific support can sometimes be seen as more expensive so I would continue to encourage all the councils to keep in mind the potential results; and that female specific enterprise programmes have recorded over 50 per cent of participants starting businesses; this is a much higher rate than generic programmes.
I shared with the councils the current results and feedback from our hugely successful Power of 4 Programme, supported by RBS. The Power of 4 is an innovative women’s start up programme which builds confidence and takes ideas from concept to launch. It brings together women from all ages and backgrounds to participate in mini networks and gain from peer mentors, along with practical and specialist support.
The Power of 4 programme addresses the needs of women considering business start-up. While current mainstream support offers a business plan we see many women who lack the confidence or know-how to turn the plan into action. The uniqueness of the programme is based on access to peer mentors from our Women in Business network who mentor them during the programme and beyond with practical knowledge, contacts and support. We create mini-networks of 4 peers who will form a business support group. They also gain from a short intensive training course and specialist support.
Again this information was received very positively and welcomed by all…. some spoke of exploring a pilot programme in the very near future.
Ladies, watch out for or ask for a female specific enterprise programme in your area and get your business started. Your potential contribution to the NI economy is extremely valuable and must be supported in the most effective way possible.
Let’s push the door and keep our councils SUPER.
:: Roseann Kelly (roseann@ womeninbusinessni.com) is chief executive of Women in Business (www.womeninbusinessni.com), the largest and fastest growing business network for female entrepreneurs and senior women in management in Northern Ireland with more than 1,000 members. Follow Women in Business NI on facebook at www. facebook.com/women-inbusinessni or on twitter @ wibni.
