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Women Unlimited: calling out for 'extraordinary female entrepreneurs'

19 November 2009

  • Only 14 percent of UK businesses are owned by women, yet they represent 42 percent of the workforce.
  • Working in partnership with the British Library Business & IP Centre, Women Unlimited brings together nine of the UK's leading female entrepreneurs, providing top tips for women business owners on how to be extraordinary.
  • Women Unlimited believes that more women should be choosing entrepreneurship as a way to contribute to the economy.

Women Unlimited (www.women-unlimited.co.uk), the UK's fastest growing organisation focused on supporting women business owners, is calling out to the UK's female entrepreneurs to 'be extraordinary'.

Julie Hall, founder and editor of Women Unlimited, believes that now is the time for women to step up and start leading the way in business. She comments: "As we come out of the recession, this is the perfect time for women to fill the gaps that have been created in the market and increase their contribution to the UK's economic recovery. Owning a business is the best way for women to break through the glass ceiling and take control of their earning potential.

"There are 602,000 female-owned companies in the UK, representing just 14 per cent of all business1. This figure is particularly significant when we compare it to the statistics in the US, where women owned companies represent 28% of the total number of businesses2. At Women Unlimited we are keen to explore the reasons for this, and our mission is to double the percentage of female entrepreneurs in the UK over the next 20 years."

On Wednesday November 18th, as part of Make Your Mark's Global Enterprise Week, Women Unlimited, in partnership with The British Library's Business and IP Centre, brought together nine of the UK's leading female entrepreneurs to host tables of business women. Each of the entrepreneurs discussed their experiences, and how they broke the mould. The nine entrepreneurs were: Rachel Elnaugh, founder of Red Letter Days, Karen Hanton, founder of toptable, Kanya King, founder and CEO of the MOBO Awards, Saira Khan, founder of Miamoo, Gita Patel, founder of Stargate Capital, Laura Tenison, founder of JoJo Maman Bébé, Polly Gowers, founder of Everyclick, Natalie Ellis, inventor of Road Refresher, and Karen Darby, founder of SimplySwitch and Call Britannia.

The event included speeches from Lord Young of Norwood Green, and Sue Stockdale author of Secrets of Successful Women Entrepreneurs: How Ten Leading Business Women Turned a Good Idea into a Fortune, who shared her learning from interviewing the fe male entrepreneurs that were featured in her book.

Below are some of top tips from Women Unlimited, and from some of the attending entrepreneurs:

  • Follow Your Passion - when you work from joy/passion/love for what you do you magically start to attract amazing people and opportunities - it is the highest form of energy. Rachel Elnaugh
  • Trust your intuition - Women are incredibly intuitive creatures but unfortunately can lack confidence in their hunches.Every time I have gone against a hunch I have lived to regret it. So my biggest tip is to follow your feelings, as I think intuition counts for a lot in business and we have it in spades. Karen Hanton
  • Be prepared to make sacrifices - the onus is still on women to be the main caregivers. It is realistic to think you can be an entrepreneur and have a family, but something has to give, so be prepared to make sacrifices and make strict decisions as to how you will spend the hours in the working day. Kanya King
  • Never give up - never take no for an answer. If you don't get the result you want first time approach the issue from another direction. Laura Tenison
  • Think big - time and time again evidence shows that if you strive for more you will achieve more. Women typically set lower expectations for themselves, but the extraordinary among us set no limits. Julie Hall (Women Unlimited)
  • Focus on your vision - know what you want to achieve and then test everything you are doing against whether it will help you achieve your vision. By focusing on your goal you will increase your chances of success ten times over. Julie Hall (Women Unlimited)
  • Don't do it all yourself - build a strong team around you. Do the things that you are good at and bring in exceptional people to fill in the gaps. Your team should include mentors, advisors and team members who can each bring you one step closer to your goal. Julie Hall (Women Unlimited)

Julie Hall adds: "Women's Enterprise Day offered the perfect opportunity to create a unique event that would help women learn from some of the UK's leading entrepreneurs. I am a strong believer in modelling behaviour as a way of learning. And by giving the women in the room personal access to these extraordinary entrepreneurs, we are also giving them access to their success strategies and experience."

Gabrielle Rose, business engagement manager at The British Library, says: "Launched in 2006 the British Library Business and IP Centre has worked to actively target aspiring female entrepreneurs, and worked with organisations like Women Unlimited to encourage more women to 'take the plunge'. Three years on, women now make up over 50 percent of our users, which is an encouraging sign.

"In the future, the British Library hopes to be able to roll out the Business & IP Centre model across the country and help to create better opportunities for female entrepreneurs from all over the UK."

For further information, interviews and photography please contact:

Jacob Lant
British Library - Business, Science and Technology Press Officer
T: + 44 (0)20 7412 7105
M: + 44 (0)77 10976982
E: Jacob.lant@bl.uk

Katrina Suppiah
Publicite Ltd
T: +44 (0)20 8543 6582
E: k.suppiah@publicite.co.uk

Notes to editors

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It provides world-class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. Further information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk, which currently receives almost 2 million 'hits' or visits per month.

The British Library Business & IP Centre is supported by the London Development Agency (LDA) to provide a single access point to support entrepreneurs and SMEs in London to gain access to and exploit existing and new business and IP information, and other relevant content and data, guided by impartial Library information experts and associated partners. The Business & IP Centre has been used by over 100,000 people since it opened in March 2006. An independent survey of 230 users in 2007 showed that it helped create 47 new companies, took a further 48 to start-up and helped create 115 new jobs. Access to the Centre is free, but users need a Reader Pass. For more information visit: www.bl.uk/bipc

About Women Unlimited:

Women Unlimited is a business that is totally focussed upon supporting women in their journey to creating and sustaining a successful business either as a sole trader or limited company.

This is currently delivered through a number of outlets; from an online community and inspirational events and workshops in the first operating year to business clubs, publications and enterprise clubs for young women in the future.

The overriding motivation of Women Unlimited is to support women in their quest for self employment and business ownership, offer ideas and solutions to not just business issues, but also specific women life/business issues and create a support network through both online and offline channels.

Women Unlimited is a catalyst for change and works in partnership with other business support groups and networks that support entrepreneurship. It is a conduit for women to support groups, networks, resources and facilities that can help them achieve their aims; whether that be to start their own home-based business or build a million pound company. Future initiatives include developing entrepreneurship programmes girls in secondary school and developing initiatives that support women in their business visions.

This is an incredibly exciting time for women in business, with so much potential for growth and Women Unlimited's mission is to be at the forefront of that change.

1. Annual Small Business Survey February 2008

2. The Economic Impact of Women Owned businesses in the US, October 2009 http://www.womensbusinessresearchcenter.org/Data/research/economicimpactstud/econimpactreport-final.pdf