Taskforce to back women entrepreneurs set to launch

A SPECIAL ‘Women in Enterprise Taskforce’ is to be launched to support woman entrepreneurs and business owners.

It follows the publication of a report which has explored the specific challenges faced by women-led businesses and makes recommendations for improving support.

The study from the Federation of Small Businesses ‘Women in Enterprise’, recommends the development of mentoring networks and ways to increase the diversity of business ambassadors.

To further the recommendations of the report, FSB plans to launch the dedicated taskforce.

While the report finds women-led businesses face many of the same challenges all small firms encounter – including cash flow issues (42%), and difficulty accessing finance (25%) – there appear to be issues which were more acute for women business owners.

FSB spoke to almost 2,000 women business owners in the UK. It found key challenges included balancing work and family life (40%), achieving credibility for the business (37%) and a lack of confidence (22%).

Holly Bonfield, FSB Manchester & North Cheshire region’s national councillor, said: “Women-led smaller businesses already contribute over £75bn to the UK economy, yet less than one in five (18%) of businesses are majority run by women.
 
“If women were to set up businesses and grow them at the same rate as men, we would see a huge boost to growth and prosperity in this country. In fact, the Government estimates it could add £600 billion to our economy.

“Everyone should have the same chance to succeed in business. Understanding the importance of diversity and getting more women into business is critical for a dynamic and vibrant small business sector. That’s why we need to work out what the barriers are for women and break them down one by one.”

The most popular motivation for women starting a business was found to be confidence in their skills in their chosen sector (37%). However, a majority of women also said improving online and digital skills (55%), marketing expertise (56%) and business strategy skills (60%) would be the most useful measure to grow their business.

The report also found that a third (34%) of women business owners say they have experienced gender discrimination in the workplace. This was felt particularly in sectors that are traditionally male dominated – for example in construction where more than half (54%) had experienced discrimination.