ULSTER UNIVERSITY BUSINESS SCHOOL ROUND TABLE
Tina Mckenzie , Staffline Ireland
You ’ re absolutely right , Joan . I know of many successful women who are running multimillion pound companies in the UK that simply cannot get onto public Boards ! It ’ s as if somebody is writing criteria that is specifically developed to make it impossible .
And what happens ? They get so fed up they go back into the private sector and do something there instead .
Roseann Kelly , Women in Business I was involved in conversations around how to get more women on to Boards and we identified that one of the main hurdles was competency based interviews . Women just aren ’ t as skilled in that approach to recruitment as men . And the answer was to send women on training so they could become better at it ! Just more hurdles to jump . There really needs to be more of a willingness to address the barriers .
Professor Pauric McGowan , UU
OK , I ’ m going to be provocative here by pivoting the conversation and saying that often women have a negative reaction when we talk to them about ‘ women only ’ networks . Many turn their noses up at such networks almost saying ‘ they ’ re not for me , if I can only operate in such an environment , I probably shouldn ’ t be in business !
Tina McKenzie , Staffline Ireland
I see that with a lot of women I network with . But it ’ s only when you go into that network that you see the real benefits it ’ s a different kind of space . Just like when you go into a network of any kind , there is a special atmosphere that is unique to that network .
But sometimes we make it very difficult for ourselves and our economic development appears to be more difficult to navigate with much of it devolved to Councils so that now there is no single point of contact . Maybe we should consider appointing a Women ’ s Minister just as they have in Scotland .
Professor Colette Henry , DkIT
We critiqued the Entrepreneurship Policy in the Republic of Ireland and found that , while there was one , it had little to say specifically about women ’ s enterprise . However , regardless of that , there is stuff happening on the ground . But the problem arises if this does not become part of the overarching policy but just remains something that gets done only when somebody has the time to do it .
Fortunately a recent report to the Dail has acknowledged that point and is encouraging amendments in the tax system , improving child benefit for women who are selfemployed , promoting STEM and looking at childcare . So if that happens and it remains to be seen that it will then it would definitely make a difference to women ’ s enterprise throughout the Republic .
Tina McKenzie , Staffline Ireland with Professors . Joan Ballantine and Pauric McGowan
Professor Barbara Osrer
There are four areas of the debate that I would like to address . First , you need to make full use of the women ’ s networks . If you look at what makes things happen elsewhere it is powerful women business owners coupled with network associations advising Ministers .
While I fully favour a Women ’ s Ministry , policy and programme support for women business owners should be the responsibility of ministries tasked with economic development . This is because expertise in supporting and growing firms rests in such ministries .
Next , evidence shows that women do business with women so don ’ t dilute that important aspect of networking .
We had spoken about the need to focus on youth development , and certainly it shouldn ’ t be ignored . But the average age of a woman going into our Small Business Women ’ s Centres in Canada is 46 years .
So if youth is defined as 1839 , then by focusing on that segment you ’ re missing the development of a huge area of great potential .
We also need to acknowledge that while facts are important , in themselves they can ’ t achieve anything . These issues needs advocacy and a political push that will keep them high in minds of those who are making policy decisions .
And finally , we know that the Women ’ s Enterprise Centres are high impact job generators . So the question has to be asked is what is the opportunity cost to Northern Ireland of not developing these centres here and I have the evidence to show that they work .
Professor Pauric McGowan , UU Can I bring the discussion to a close with some points that have struck me .
As an educator I find some of the young women in my lectures to be low in selfefficacy and we need to find a way to build up their sense of selfbelief so that more women think it quite natural that they should be entrepreneurs .
GEM research for Northern Ireland suggests that women are a third as likely as men to start enterprises . And those that do are reluctant to scaleup .
So there needs to be a willingness on the part of policy makers to understand and respond to the need to remove barriers women are experiencing to getting into enterprise in the first place .
I think we ’ ve agreed on the importance and value of data and the need to gather more and specific data which will help us understand the landscape as it exists at the moment for women who want to become entrepreneurs .
The question then becomes where will we get the funding to undertake the research so we know what we ’ re doing is working , or if it ’ s not , what we need to do to change the outcomes .
We need to be aware of and fight against the perception that with respect to women ’ s enterprise that we are nearly there , the evidence doesn ’ t support this and certainly does not serve our agenda at all .
So we need to drive women ’ s entrepreneurship higher up the agenda while recognising that there are other huge social issues with which policy makers are also grappling .
Finally , we have identified and Barbara has shown through her research the importance of women building networks and leveraging them to full effect .
Next Steps
At the conclusion of the Round Table it was agreed that there is an urgent need to continue the debate and ensure that the identified issues are revisited and kept high on the agenda .
A further Round Table is to be held within the next six months , and Business First will ensure that the issue of developing womens ’ s enterprise and entrepreneurship will continue to be reported in full .
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