UK's women leading out of recession

Risk and Reward: the 6th Prowess Annual International Conference

4-5 March, Blackpool, UK

Positive evidence points to women business owners driving a new, more robust feminine enterprise model based on diligent risk taking and collaboration which take account of wider social values alongside profits.

Research into the impacts of the downturn carried out in February across 350 Prowess member organisations records a 40% rise in enquiries for business advice, and that most women's businesses have no debt or well-managed debt. However, a significant reduction in the availability of bank finance is having a devastating effect on client firms say Prowess members, and reduced government funding for specialist support is putting pressure on their advisory and training services.

Prowess, the UK voice for women's enterprise, will use its International Conference on 4th - 5th March to rally the business support network for urgent action to ensure women business owners can lead the way out of the recession. Top of the list from Conference will be a call on the government to remove the blockage which is being caused by the banks preventing renewals of and extensions to overdrafts and loans. Prowess members report this as desperate. A second priority is for the government to design programmes of support, such as that given to the car industry, to better reflect the female dimensions of the recession, and thirdly, Prowess will be looking to forge closer ties with its partners in the States including keynote speaker Ann Marie Almeida, President and CEO of the Association of Women's Business Centers, USA, as together they launch a new international Quality Standard for Women's Business Centres². The development of Women's Business Centres is a key aspiration of the Government's Enterprise Strategy. The quality standard is being piloted with the support of the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

Erika Watson, Executive Director of Prowess comments: "Women are showing incredible fighting spirit and are at their most entrepreneurial in times of economic change. They have led the diversification of the rural economy over the last 20 years and they will do it again. But female dominated sectors like retail, hospitality and services are in the eye of the economic storm and so far government support has been focused on male led industries. Women are calling for strong local business support services in equal measure to access to finance and a clear acknowledgment from the government of the economic role they can play. In an uncertain, highly fragile business world women are innovative and adaptive, empathetic and responsive, great communicators and jugglers. They are risk aware and with the right support they are set to lead the way with their particular business approach."

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Article: Northwest