THE BIG FEATURE HE creators of the WICED women’s enterprise centre, in Liverpool, hope it will be more than just an office space – it will be an international beacon for women in business. Building work on the £5m Women’s International Centre for Economic Development is well under way in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle. When it opens in January, it will include office space, support services and a home for international research into female entrepreneurship. As well as offering support to local women in business, it also aims to influence local and national government policy and provide a practical example to academics and researchers. Women’s enterprise agency Train 2000 has big ambitions for the centre. But that is because Merseyside needs more women to start businesses. On these pages, we talk to a selection of the region’s leading businesswomen about their experiences of starting companies or rising through the corporate ranks. Now Train 2000 hopes its new centre will help generate the role models of the future, while at the same time boosting Merseyside’s economy. Nationally, Train 2000 says women are only half as likely to be involved in business start-up activities as men. The 2008 Annual Small Business Survey showed there were 602,000 female-owned businesses in the UK, representing just 14% of all businesses. Regeneration bodies in and around Liverpool want to boost business start-up levels. For that to happen, more women will need to start businesses. Helen Millne, chief operating officer at Train 2000, said: “Business start-up rates are significantly lower among women. “There’s an economic imperative to this. As a country, we need our economy to be stronger. “We need more businesses and more jobs, and small businesses create as many or more new jobs than large enterprises. “We’ve got a double imperative. We can help the national economy and help women’s prospects.” Train 2000 looked at similar organisations around the world before creating the idea for WICED. It worked in partnership with Liverpool Vision and Liverpool City Council to develop the project. “It’s the first city in the world to have this model,” said Ms Millne. “Some of the experts we’re working with think it may be the biggest women’s-focused centre of its kind in the world. It’s a cutting-edge centre. “The message we want to get across is that Liverpool is the city for women in business. If you want to be entrepreneurial, Liverpool is the city for you. We want to be the best in the country, maybe in the world.” The centre will become a home for international researchers – who will also be able to learn from the businesses onsite. “We believe there’s a synergy between practice, research and influencing policy,” said Ms Millne. “It will be about using the very best business research and applying it so we can learn from it.
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Julie Jones, left, and Kate Morris – have launched the Fashion Finds website
“We can learn from academics, or they can learn from the businesswomen here.” Ms Millne said WICED was needed because mainstream support services sometimes failed to meet the needs of women. She said: “We still live in a society where, within family units, women have the core responsibilities. “That might change in the future, but it hasn’t changed fundamentally yet. “So when women are starting businesses, they have different things to think about and juggle. “We want to make sure all those things are addressed before they start. “It’s all about helping women to see that there are opportunities there for them. “If they haven’t had role models in their own families, then maybe one role we have is to show that, yes, women can set up successful businesses. Sometimes the work we do isn’t simply business development – it’s inspiration.” Kate Morris agrees that the inspirational role of an organisation such as Train 2000 is vital. She and friend Julie set up the Fashion Finds website in April to help women find fashion inspiration. The site features photos of women around the city, with details of what they’re wearing and where they bought it. Neither had any business experience before – Ms Jones worked in schools while Ms
Morris worked in the mental health sector – but they found inspiration from Train 2000. Ms Morris, 27, said: “We didn’t have any business experience, and we didn’t have much funding. “But it was Train 2000 that said: ‘You can do this’.” When you go into the Train 2000 office, you can see these other businesses that have made it, and it is quite inspirational. We thought that, if they could do it, we could do, it too. “When you think about setting up your own business, you think of Richard Branson or Bill Gates. You think you’ll never be anywhere near people like that. “But then you visit somewhere like Train 2000 and you can see real people who have succeeded.” Another Train 2000 “graduate” is former Brookside star Rachael Lindsay, who this year set up Face 2 Face with her sister, Nikki, to provide drama therapy workshops in Merseyside. The workshops are designed to help people with low self-esteem, from the long-term unemployed to those with learning disabilities. Nikki Lindsay had run a drama school but Rachel, who is also training to be a counsellor, had never set up a business before. Now Ms Lindsay is enjoying travelling the region winning new business. “We didn’t have any issues in terms of feeling independent and having confidence, but the paperwork side of things was a learning process for me,” she said.
An artist’s impression of the new WICED centre, in Liverpool
“I wanted to deal with that side of things as my sister has children and she’s got her hands full. I wanted to do the books and the invoices.” Networking groups can also be a source of advice and inspiration for women. One of the largest is Women in Business for Merseyside, led by Ellen Kerr, Elaine Owen and Jan McDermott. It organises regular events and works to promote and raise awareness of women's enterprise. It also holds an annual awards ceremony – at which Kathryn Burkhill, of Liverpool Vision, was named best networker. Ms Burkill started holding networking events for women in Aintree more than two years ago. Today, the quarterly Ladies Lunchtime Group event attract as many as 80 people from
Merseyside and beyond to network and hear from inspirational speakers including Natalie Haywood, founder of Leaf Tea Shop and Bar. Ms Burkill said: “Our delegates can look and say ‘She can do it – so can I’. It’s a learning experience.” Ms Burkhill’s next meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 29, at the Isla Gladstone Conservatory, in Stanley Park. She said: “We’ve found that women are quicker to open up and speak to other women. “Someone might say ‘I’ve had a bad day’, and another might say ‘I’ve never met you before, but I’ve had this problem and this is how I’ve dealt with it. “Our members are all very supportive. The trick is to make people feel welcome.”