FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS
Encouraging entrepreneurship Ken Skates AM looks at the role of women in the North Wales economy, and asks what the Welsh Government can do to encourage even more female entrepreneurs…
generation, entrepreneurship is widely regarded as a strong basis for women’s economic independence. By encouraging, supporting and increasing women’s participation in entrepreneurship, we can have a positive impact on the economy of Wales. Doing this can promote opportunity, tackle inequality and deliver individual and national prosperity. We want to see more women start-up businesses and I want to ensure we help them overcome any barriers in achieving this. To help deliver this we have established an Expert Panel, chaired by Caroline Thompson of Alacrity supported by Alys Carlton, Capital Law as vice chair, together with individuals from the business support community. The panel has reviewed how Wales can better support women entrepreneurs and has proposed an approach, which is underpinned by a Good Practice Guide. The guide provides practical advice on how to deliver a more gender focussed approach to providing business advice, With the recent celebration of International Women’s Day on 8th March it is fitting to look at the contribution of women to the economy and what more we can do to encourage women entrepreneurs in Wales. In the Welsh Government we want to see a Wales that promotes inclusive growth, creates opportunity and tackles inequality, as well as creating the right environment to enable entrepreneurs and businesses to grow and prosper. We know that across the UK the under-representation of women in business is well documented. This means women are not achieving their full economic potential and the Welsh economy is missing out on the even greater contribution they could make in terms of job creation and innovation.
“Town Square Spaces is committed to encouraging diversity and eliminating discrimination in both its role as an employer and service provider, documents like the Good Practice Guide support our continual improvement process and allows us to enhance our programmes with solid research. A success for us has been growing our women audience significantly by being more mindful of our tone in social media posts, a small point from the guide, but has ensured our messages are accessible to all.” Carl Turner, Wrexham Enterprise Hub
As well as being important for growth and employment
inbusiness | 2020 | 13
