This is a really quite a long blog post, pretty different from my usual ones, and will primarily be of interest to aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs. It will be followed closely by a “general interest” one.

Last Tuesday I attended the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the European Union conference at the Atrium, the beautiful University of Glamorgan building in central Cardiff. (I was writing this to post on Friday but in the meantime my laptop died and was brought back to life!)

The WEEU project is “a two-year project focussed on the  research, design and development of innovative approaches to learning, new teaching methods and materials, and associated support for aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs.” It’s been led by the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub from the Centre for Enterprise at the Uni of Glam, and has brought together higher education institutions, chambers of commerce, and a bunch of private enterprises from Wales, France and Lithuania. It involved running free week-long summer schools for women entrepreneurs in each country last summer, and a load of research and interviews with aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs.

The day started with a keynote address by Jane Hutt, Assembly Member and Welsh Minister for Business and Budget (and also Director of the Vale Women’s Business Network and ex director of Chwarae Teg which supports the economic development of women in Wales). She highlighted the importance of supporting women entrepreneurs, who have such an important role to play in the communities, the economy, and for children and families. Women have different values, issues and priorities, and Jane mentioned as a striking example how Bjork has become a venture capitalist with an Icelandic investment bank run by two other women to help regenerate the economy. Their values when investing are:

• risk awareness,
• profit with principles (social and environmental responsibility),
• emotional capital (inspiring, mentoring, encouraging and supporting),
• straight talking (we really like this!),
• independence and unbiased advice.

Leading on from there and developing the theme that the female model of undertaking business is quite different from that of traditional male type businesses, Christine Atkins (head of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub) then reported back on some of the results of the research carried out in Wales, France and Lithuania. There was a considerable amount of variability between the countries – which led to some very useful cross-pollination of ideas and techniques – and between individual women of course, but also some common traits. These were grouped into the following broad themes, which will inform the learning styles in training and the development of teaching materials (and reminded me of some of the themes in Lynne Franks’ Seed Network):

• business planning, which is seen as necessary but very dry and formal. How can women unleash their creativity and talent to write a meaningful business plan?
• creativity and innovation – they need to be fostered and encouraged.
• social entrepreneurship, a value which seems to be more important for women than for men.
• work-life balance: one of the key challenges. Women see entrepreneurship as a flexible alternative form of employment, but it often becomes all time consuming, especially in the early years of starting a business.
• sustainability and sustainable development, like green issues and being ethical in business. (On that note, check out Positive Trading, a new group set up for business people who include positivity, equity, well-being, responsibility, fairness, ethics and mutual support in their business thinking.)
• mentoring and work shadowing.

The day continued with a presentation of some case studies. One of those was a video interview with Carrie of Carrie Elspeth (handmade designer jewellery company based in Cowbridge, near Cardiff). Carrie talked about how invaluable having a mentor was to her as she started and developed her business – someone she got on well with, who she could share and discuss ideas with, who was in business themselves and was able to provide support in the form of advice and guidance for tricky business decisions, and provide perspective on the market. In addition, he was able to provide emotional support, which is not to be sneezed at because setting up in business has its really hard moments! She summarised her business mentor’s role by saying she could have got there on her own, but he helped her get there a lot quicker. The message she wished to pass on to aspiring and existing women entrepreneurs is:

• have a business plan!
• mix with positive motivated people, particularly people who are in business and who are doing well.

This last point is why watching the case studies was so inspiring, because Carrie (and the other featured women) are 10-11 years into their businesses, and flourishing. When you are starting out and in the first few years I have found you tend to hang out with people who are at about the same stage (and it’s great to have the peer support), but it’s such a boost to see and learn from people who are soaring. I really believe that while entrepreneurs at Carrie’s stage still have a need for a more experienced business mentor, they could also bring some fantastic support and inspiration to a “younger” (in terms of business setup and development) entrepreneur, as a mentor themselves.

There were other case studies presented (Bethan Hughes of Healing Harp, Rebecca Exley Groundwater Ltd), but the other one that really stood out for me was the interview with one of the directors of Barefoot Studio, Cowbridge. The points that stood out for me and which I wrote down were:

• Business planning: what’s your exit plan? I’d never even thought of this before, but it was a real lightbulb moment for me. Where do you want to be, and what are you trying to achieve? Do you want to grow your business to sell on? Are you planning to franchise? What are your long-term objectives (even if you’re not planning to exit your own business)? You need to have the end point in mind to know what steps to take to get there.
• Have a business advisor: they will help you with business planning and forecasts, and also with having courage in the tough times.
• Have support around you – emotional support, not just business support.
• Network with other women: you have to believe in yourself and in your model of business. It’s lonely working alone and when things go wrong you have to have support.
• For the first 3 years you will probably work the most hours for little rewards, so you’ve GOT to be passionate and enjoy what you do. Also, it helps if you can fudge the boundaries between work and life – if work is really fun, you will feel less that it’s taking from you the whole time.
• That being said, make sure you also build in downtime and holidays.

After lunch and some networking, Christine Atkinson and Marilia Angrove from the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub presented the structure and some of the content of last year’s summer school for women entrepreneurs, then the French team Francoise Van Weddingen and Antoine El Hage fed back their findings and case studies from the research carried out in France. Finally, the participants from last year’s summer school in Cardiff were present to feed back on what it had meant to them, how it had helped, and where they are now.

The WEEU project is coming to the end of its two years now; a new funding bid has been submitted, with the objective of developing national mentoring events and national and international customised social networking sites. Thanks to Christine Atkinson and Marilia Angove for putting on such a successful, informative and inspiring day… The next event will be on 16th September in Paris, and will see the launch of the WEEU consortium as well as the website, containing all the case studies and a wealth of information for new and existing women entrepreneurs. In the meantime, you can check out the WEEU Facebook group.

Funnily enough, I was going to go to the south of France for a holiday around then. I can see myself arranging travel around the dates of that conference…

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