Women’s business hub to create 70 jobs

A NEW £5m centre which will be dedicated to assisting women get established in business will open in Liverpool later this year with the creation of 70 jobs.

The Women’s International Centre for Economic Development (WICED) is now being built in the city’s Baltic Triangle by women’s enterprise agency Train 2000.

The venue will house an international ‘research hub’ along with a range of enterprise support services.

The new facility will also include space for up to 80 business units which will help ‘several thousand’ women start and grow their businesses over the next decade creating 4,500 jobs.

Maggie O’Carroll, executive director of WICED and Train 2000, said that 22 of the world’s leading business academics have already pledged to support the new venue.

She said: “There are a substantial number of women in this city who have grown their business since the very first day they established it.

“This new centre will allow us to build on this. We’ve been working with our partners in America and Canada to look at various models to ensure that we are in a position to help the greatest amount of women possible.

“”It is crucial that society harnesses women’s enterprise and we must encourage as many women as possible to start up and grow their own businesses.
 
“The benefits to this are numerous including greater financial independence for women and a reduction in family poverty.”

The WICED has been 50% funded by the European Regional Development Fund with the remainder of the money coming from Train 2000.

Train 2000 has assisted 20,000 women across Merseyside establish businesses or further their careers since it was established in 1996.