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Women entrepreneurs are
untapped talent, says report
»»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 on 16 February.
Business Secretary Vince Cable’s
women in enterprise champion, Lorely
Burt MP (pictured), published the report
making a number of recommendations
aimed at boosting the number of female
entrepreneurs.
The report, ‘Inclusive Support for
Women in Enterprise’ 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.
The government has already taken a
number of steps to inspire and support
women to set up and grow their own
businesses, including the £1 million
Women and Broadband Challenge Fund,
a series of mentoring events and the
Aspire Fund.
The 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. The
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.
The 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.
‘huge potential to
build on Britain’s
hard-won recovery’
Lorely Burt said: “I was delighted
when Vince offered me the chance to do
something for women entrepreneurs, who
have huge potential to build on Britain’s
hard-won recovery, creating a stronger
economy and a fairer society.
“In my report I outline the economic
and the moral case for taking further
action to unlock women’s business talent.
We need to encourage government and
business to think inclusively at all times.”
MLA’S DIGITAL PRESENCE GOES INTO OVERDRIVE!
»»The Master Locksmiths
Association (MLA) reports a successful
start to 2015 with the recent appointment
of digital marketing and SEO executive
Chris Churchill, who has already made
a huge difference to the organisation’s
consumer-facing website: www.
locksmiths.co.uk.
Chris’s work has seen unique visitor
numbers to the site double in the past
12 months. The MLA members’ pages
alone are now clocking up an average of
20,000 visits per month, with visits to the
website’s ‘find a locksmith’ page, where
members’ contact details are located,
increasing by over 200 percent in the
last year.
Chris has significantly improved the
quality of the website, resulting in a
number of MLA pages now ranking in the
top three positions on Google.
Several new features have been
added including regular blog posts,
interviews with locksmiths, and a ‘hall
of shame’, giving photo ]