Mentoring Through a Gender Lens: The Importance of Women-friendly Support

1. Mentoring Through a Gender Lens:The Importance of Women-friendly Support Rachel Doyle

2. Presentation Overview • Who we are - Background to Women’s Business Development Agency • Why we are needed - The Case for women’s enterprise • What we do - Women-specific business support • Jargon buster - Gender terms explained • Imagining Growth in Europe - Next steps

3. Who We Are Established in 1990, WBDA is a non-profit company set up and run by women to: ‘promote, support and develop women’s businesses to enable women to have equal choice and access to resources, thereby achieving their social and economic objectives’ Assisted over 1,800 new clients in the last year

4. Who We Are The WBDA team: - Clients – Business women or potential business women - Board of Directors - Managing Director Sally Arkley - Marketing and Administrative staff - In house Business Advisors - Freelance advisors and mentors - Freelance consultants and trainers

5. Who We Are The WBDA Team Breaking down barriers and empowering women to start and grow their own businesses

6. Our Clients Who are our clients? - Wide variety - Women with a business idea - Women who are having problems in their business - Women with high growth potential - Criteria – women owned or at least 50% women owned

7. Our Clients Traditional - Book-keepers/Accountants - Hairdressers - Beauticians - Child-care - Catering - Life coaching - Florists - Retail

8. Our Clients Non traditional - Solicitors - Builders - Landscape Gardeners - Painter and Decorators - Information Technology

9. Our clients

10. Why We Are Needed • Countries have equality laws however, the reality is that women are under-represented in business • Numbers of women starting a business are lower than men • Addressing the imbalance – bridging the gap • One size fits all approach can indirectly discriminate. • Breaking down the barriers for women • Women need a different approach

11. Making the case for Women’s Enterprise • The goal is to achieve equality in the numbers of women and men starting businesses • Policies may cite equality between the sexes but in practice women are not starting businesses at the same rate as men – why? • In the UK if women started new businesses at the same rate as men , we would have more than 100,000 extra new businesses each year • Business start-ups and self employment are crucial to economic growth – women remain a largely untapped resource Source DTI - Promoting Female Entrepreneurship

12. ‘Women’s enterprise is the ‘sleeping tiger’ of nations and a vital contributor to our economic future’ Sally Arkley, MBE Director WBDA

13. Breaking Down Barriers –What Stops Women? Practical Barriers • The impact of time spent in unpaid work • Childcare / care / transport • Glass ceiling/ sticky floor • Poverty • Access to networks • Lack of appropriate business support • Lack of female role models • Access to finance • Reluctant to take risks

14. Breaking Down Barriers –What Stops Women? Cultural Barriers • Low levels of confidence and self esteem • Social attitudes • Stereotypes • Few accessible role models

15. Breaking Down Barriers –What Stops Women? Social Attitudes • Women are seen primarily as home makers and carers • People don’t like working for a woman boss • Women aren’t hard-headed or ruthless enough for business • Women shouldn’t earn more than men • Women going out to work causes social breakdown • Focusing on women is unfair to men

16. Statistics Comparison The present gender imbalance within business start-up rates will continue unless radical steps are taken to break the cycle and reverse the trend Source: OECD (2005), Labour Force Statistics, OECD, Paris

17. OECD Statistics According to the OECD • Women are more likely to end up in lower- paid occupations than men • The gender gap becomes wider for the high wage earners (glass ceiling) • The number of men in self-employment is on average more than twice that of women in OECD countries Source: OECD (2005), Labour Force Statistics, OECD, Paris

18. What We Do • Women specific (gender sensitive) support • Business Start-up • High growth programme • One to one mentoring / business advice • Business Skills Training • School gate project • Women’s networking • Client PR • Access to funding • Careers options and empowerment for school girls

19. Gender Issues Why is gender important? • Gender is not just about women – it is looking at the relationship between men and women • It is important to challenge and change social norms, traditions, cultures, practices that discriminate against and oppress women, stopping them from reaching their full potential • Men have to understand and be involved in this process or may sabotage it • Women are not a homogenous group and many women may or may not be comfortable receiving business support from the mainstream support services

20. Women as ‘individuals’

21. Women-friendly Support What do women want from Business Support providers? • Wider approach to business support – consider lifestyle issues • Understanding possible barriers and gender issues • Be taken seriously • Be impartial in their view and perspective • Have their own business and have worked with small businesses • Be up to date with new methods of doing business • Be down to earth • Be a good listener and questioner • Be honest • Signpost to relevant information

22. Mentoring A good mentor is someone who: • is willing to help a woman develop and achieve success • is prepared to invest time and effort • is a good listener and able to encourage others • is interested in challenging and helping someone to reach their goals • is willing to share personal knowledge and experiences • will keep matters confidential

23. Mentoring

24. Networking • Unstructured • Structured • Guest speakers- local business women to inspire • Speed networking • Invite local business women • Should be women only – many women will only feel comfortable and safe in women –only networks • Not all about getting business -inspiration, support, socialising, motivation, confidence building, exchange of information, useful contacts

25. UK High Growth Programme (Business Transformation Service) The aim of the High Growth Programme is: • To provide high-quality, female-friendly intensive support to transform business  performance • To deliver a programme of support that is highly customer focused; fitting with the ways that women choose to grow their businesses • To unleash the full potential of women’s enterprise on the economy  • To help overcome the key barriers preventing women from growing their own businesses

26. UK High Growth Programme (Business Transformation Service) Who is the Programme aimed at? • Ambitious entrepreneurs with high growth objectives • Start-up businesses with high growth potential • Businesses that have the potential for a leadership team structure • Business owners that are receptive to support and mentoring

27. UK High Growth Programme (Business Transformation Service) The programme consists of: • Personal development residential course • Business transformation grant for consultancy support • Mentor support • Networking opportunities

28. Jargon Buster • Women-friendly Services which take into account the position and needs of women, both as a group and individually. Consequently the services will be accessible and relevant to women but not necessarily women-only • Women-Specific Means services specifically targeted at and delivered to women only • Gender Culturally determined identities, social roles and behaviour patterns of men and women • Gender Lens A training format used to enable support providers to increase their ability to relate and respond to what female entrepreneurs want • Gender Mainstreaming ` The process by which issues surrounding gender are incorporated in all policies and programmes, at all levels

29. Imagining Growth in Europe:Next Steps Creating a women focused organisation • Separate organisation or a gender focused team within existing agency • Source appropriate trainers and mentors • Create network of local business women • Create local awareness of project • Translate to local context • Collect and analyse gender data and statistics • Adopt good practice guidelines for delivery • Build relationships with local women’s 0rganisations and networks • Influence policy regarding the promotion of women’s enterprise

30. Leonardo in Europe Practical Steps • Questions Break out session • Discussion on local gender issues and practicalities • Individual country feedback on above

31. Thank you for listening THE END