皇冠体育app

Women entrepreneurs could play a bigger role in the UK economy, creating jobs and boosting growth as well as reducing gender inequality, according to the findings of an independent report published today (16 February 2015).

Business Secretary Vince Cable鈥檚 women in enterprise champion, Lorely Burt MP, published the report making a number of recommendations aimed at boosting the number of female entrepreneurs.

皇冠体育app report, 鈥業nclusive Support for Women in Enterprise鈥�, found that although the number of female-run small and medium-sized businesses has increased, there is still more to be done to close the gender gap between men and women.

皇冠体育app government has already taken a number of steps to inspire and support women to set up and grow their own businesses, including the 拢1 million Women and Broadband Challenge Fund, a series of mentoring events and the Aspire Fund.

皇冠体育app Business is GREAT website is the single place to go for help and the Business Support Tool is continually being expanded and developed with users. On the website there is a specific section for women entrepreneurs.

Last year UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) published a guide for first time exporters aimed at helping women expand into overseas markets. 皇冠体育app Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Government Equalities Office have also launched a new research project to find new ways of reaching out to female entrepreneurs.

皇冠体育app government will be writing to the 39 Local Enterprise Partnerships to remind them of the importance of representing the communities they operate in, with more diverse boards and supporting all businesses in their area.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

I appointed Lorely as 鈥榳omen in enterprise champion鈥� so she could build on the good work we鈥檝e already done and help us increase entrepreneurial aspiration among women.

Reaching our target of 25% women on FTSE 100 boards by 2015 is now in sight. 皇冠体育app government is committed to ensuring that talented women have the tools at hand whether it鈥檚 running a business on their own or heading up a corporate board.

皇冠体育app evidence is clear - gender diversity delivers better business decisions which are vital to securing the future prosperity of the UK.

Lorely Burt said:

I was delighted when Vince offered me the chance to do something for women entrepreneurs.

Women entrepreneurs have huge potential to build on Britain鈥檚 hard-won recovery, creating a stronger economy and a fairer society.

Sadly too much female entrepreneurial talent remains untapped although the coalition government has made progress.

In my report I outline the economic and the moral case for taking further action to unlock women鈥檚 business talent.

We need to encourage government and business to think inclusively at all times. We must also break unnecessary barriers between entrepreneurs and the support they need to succeed.

I am pleased to see the government is taking action and I look forward to further progress over the years ahead.

Notes to Editors:

1. 皇冠体育app report 鈥業nclusive Support for Women in Enterprise鈥� can be found at Inclusive support for women in enterprise: the Burt report.
2. One of the recommendations in the report is that the government should collect data on the diversity of businesses bidding for public sector contracts. 皇冠体育app Small Business Survey of 2012 shows that women-led firms doing business with the public sector is equal to that of male-led firms (22.6% compared to 22.4%).
3. Major reforms of public sector procurement coming into force soon will make it easier for all small firms to get their fair share of 拢230 billion annual public sector spending.
4. 皇冠体育app sets out advice and sources of support on issues such as finance, mentoring and networking.
5. In addition, other support is available to make sure women are able to start and grow their businesses. 皇冠体育app government is: * committing over 拢1 million to support women to get their businesses online * spending 拢1.6 million to support rural women鈥檚 enterprise * investing 拢2 million in small grants to help people to set up their own childcare businesses * introducing the Shared Parental Leave system which will give parents more choice and flexibility over how they share the care of their child in the first year after birth * investing 拢1.9 million in the Get Mentoring project, which recruited and trained over 15,000 volunteer business mentors from the small business community, 42% of these mentors are women * investing 拢12.5 million in the which targets support for women through the British Business Bank * making tax-free childcare available to nearly 2 million households from autumn 2015 to help with the cost of childcare. This will enable more parents to go out to work and it is available to self-employed parents