WELLESLEY, Mass., Nov. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- A greater commitment to women's enterprise policy and practice is being called for by Prowess, the UK's leading women's enterprise organization, as it launches its latest research into women's enterprise in the UK. Prowess is calling for a long-term and sustained commitment from government at all levels as the momentum generated over the past three years is in danger of fading. In particular, government focus on the 18-24 age group appears to be failing young women. This new report finds that young women in this category are the least entrepreneurial of all age groups and just one quarter as entrepreneurial as their male counterparts. The report is available at .
Evidence from the research carried out for Prowess by Dr. Rebecca Harding, executive director of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) (based on a survey of 32,000 people in the UK), shows that women are driving enterprise in the rural economy, and that women are more successfully exploiting technology suited to a new style of enterprise. GEM is a cross-national assessment of entrepreneurship that include 42 countries around the world and its two founding members and chief sponsors, London Business School and Babson College
Dr. Harding's research also points to significant entrepreneurial activity in the Black African and Caribbean female population.
However, work remains to be done in tackling the entrenched barriers to start-up, such as under-capitalization of ventures, low levels of self- confidence and the visibility of appropriate role models. Prowess is also urging a greater national policy focus from government and more cohesion across the regions, particularly in the light of radical changes to the business support environment -- and that these should be priorities of the emerging Women's Enterprise Task Force.
The report was commissioned by Prowess with the support of HSBC in order to gauge the current levels of female entrepreneurial activity by geography, age, ethnicity, and to look again at barriers to growth.
"Despite some notable progress made over the last three years in the growth of women's enterprise in the UK, we now need a much greater push at national and regional levels," says Prowess Executive Director, Erika Watson. "The report highlights the importance of support and training that is as sustained and patient as women are themselves in their approach to business. If we are to release successfully the undoubted potential of women entrepreneurs, this also needs to be matched by a consistent and sustained policy commitment from government."
Simon Wainwright, Head of Business Banking for HSBC Bank says: "We are proud to be sponsoring this report which shows women entrepreneurs are already making a significant and growing contribution to the sector. However they remain under-represented in the SME world -- doing more to encourage women to consider enterprise as a career choice is not just about equal opportunities, it also makes economic sense."
"Stairways to growth" recommends the following action: * That the Women's Enterprise Task Force, announced in November 2005, swiftly provides national policy guidance at a time of rapid change in the business support environment. * That the Government commits long term to women's enterprise development."Stairways" between different levels of policy making across relevant Government departments are called for. * That training in all aspects of enterprise and business growth be provided as women who have received such training at school or university are two and a half times more entrepreneurially active than those who haven't. * That a policy focus on understanding the needs of young women in the 18-24 year age range becomes a priority as this will help close this significant gender gap in entrepreneurial activity. Notes:
Prowess is the UK network of organizations which support women to start and grow businesses. Prowess has over 200 members who support 100,000 women in business each year and 10,000 new business start-ups which contribute an additional GBP1.5 billion to the economy.
HSBC Bank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings PLC which is headquartered in the UK. The HSBC Group serves over 125 million customers worldwide from more than 9,500 offices in 76 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$1,738 billion at 30 June 2006, HSBC is one of the world's largest banking and financial services organizations. HSBC is marketed worldwide as the world's local bank(TM).
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a cross-national assessment of entrepreneurship. Started in 1999 with 10 participating countries, the project has expanded to include 42 countries around the world and its two founding members and chief sponsors, London Business School and Babson College. GEM has developed into one of the world's leading research consortia concerned with improving the understanding of relationships between entrepreneurial activity and national economic growth. No other research exists that can provide consistent cross-country information and measures of entrepreneurial activity in a global context.
Babson College
