Rt. Hon. Jacqui Smith MP

EVERYWOMAN CONFERENCE

Can I also say how much I value the energy and commitment which EVERYWOMAN has brought to the enterprise agenda. You have consistently helped keep the profile of women’s enterprise high and brought to us innumerable examples of creative women taking that important step and setting up and developing successful businesses.

I would like to start by putting women’s enterprise into the wider context and recapping for us all on why this is an important issue – for our economy and our society as well as for individual women

I am a firm believer that this is not simply a matter of diversity or equality – important though they are to us all. The need to develop women’s enterprise is so clearly a crucial issue for UK PLC; this is not a ‘nice-to-have’; this is an economic imperative if we, as a nation, are to maintain our position as one of the leading economies in the world.

Let’s remind ourselves why this matters. Research estimates show that:

· In the UK around 26% of all self-employed are women;
· there are roughly 620,000 majority women owned businesses in the UK generating around £130 billion turnover;
· Yet only 15% of SMEs are majority or wholly owned by women.

Business start-ups, or wider self-employment, are recognised as key to employment and productivity growthacross the country. And women represent the largest under-represented group in terms of participation in enterprise. They stand out as a wealth of untapped talent and economic opportunity.

Experience overseas shows us what might be achieved if we could draw more fully on the untapped potential of women entrepreneurs:

· If English regions matched the growth achieved by Canada in the 1990s, for example, that would mean nearly 400,000 more women self-employed across England in the next ten years.

· If the UK had the same levels of female entrepreneurship as the US, there would be around three quarters of a million additional businesses in the UK

· If women in the UK started businesses at the same rate as men, we would have 150 thousand extra start ups each year

And this is why women’s enterprise is crucial to me as Minister for Industry and the Regions – this is a matter of massive potential for our society and our economy.

You will all be aware that our Strategic Framework, launched last year, encapsulates the Government’s long-term vision to create an environment and culture that encourages more women to start and grow businesses – and where every woman with the desire to start or grow a business will have access to support.

Having the vision is fundamental. But we can have no illusion about the work needed to turn this into reality; changing the culture – since this is what is really needed - so that more women view the option of enterprise as a positive and achievable aspiration will take some time. We need to ensure, for example, that enterprise is thoroughly embedded in our education policy so that young women increasingly regard setting up and running their own business as a realistic option for them.

At national level the Government is playing its part by highlighting the important role that businesswomen – and men for that matter – can play in promoting enterprise in schools, colleges and higher education; and is encouraging more successful women to become advocates for enterprise.

We need to encourage more successful women, whether they are running micro-enterprises, social enterprises or large corporations, to become advocates for enterprise.

I mentioned social enterprise and let’s not forget its important contribution to the overall economy and the role of women in leading and supporting its growth. Many women are attracted to working in social enterprise. Women like Claire Dove, Chief Executive of Blackburne House Group, the women’s technology and education centre in Liverpool that empowers disadvantaged women to realise their potential and move into employment or start their own business. Progress with the Government strategy to support the growth of social enterprise shows that women playing a key role in providing much needed services and employment through social enterprises in sectors as diverse as health and social care, childcare, construction and fair trade chocolate!

Elsewhere, there are other interesting role models like Janet Shelley from Milton Keynes who left the IT industry after sixteen years and, with the help of her local Business Link, last year set up Women Builders Ltd which offers training and employment opportunities for women in the building industry. She used her particular knowledge and identified a gap in the market – many women at home alone during the day preferring to have other women working in their homes – and is now offering them a very welcome choice of service.
Don’t forget – women are increasingly very important consumers and as women you have firsthand knowledge of what other women need and want to buy.

So there are lots of opportunities out there, but there are also some particular challenges for women setting up or growing their businesses. Having the confidence and knowledge to take that first step, finding support and getting enough money to start and to grow.

That’s why I’ve got a job to do to improve support to women considering business start up and signpost them to the numerous sources of help, whether that be through Business Link, a bank, a women’s enterprise initiative, or an enterprise agency.

This is why, for example, the Small Business Service will soon be working with partners to agree an Action Plan around Access to Finance for women entrepreneurs.

A new toolkit for business advisors, The Case for Women’s Enterprise, especially for those in mainstream support agencies, was launched by our Small Business Service just last week

This is why SBS is currently working to articulate and promote the hard-nosed economic argument for women’s enterprise – so that we can take it to RDAs, Learning and Skills Councils and other strategic players in the regions to press home the importance of women’s enterprise for all our regional economies.

Undoubtedly, women’s enterprise development is gaining an increasingly prominent profile across all nine English regions. Some regions have made it a priority in their business plans, such as the East Midlands; several regions have Women’s Enterprise Forums or Boards in formation. Five RDAs are likely to have women’s enterprise coordinators on board by the end of the year. I hope they soon all will. And, of course, we in central Government have our part to play. You may be aware that, at the end of last month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Patricia Hewitt announced two measures which Government will take to provide a boost to the development of women’s enterprise.

The first of these was to commission the Small Business Service to develop a new Action Plan detailing the concrete steps we will take to meet the target that, by 2006, a fifth of all businesses will be owned by women.

Secondly, we will appoint a new women’s enterprise panel – successful female entrepreneurs – to advise on the SBS Action Plan, explore proposals for a national Women’s Business Council and champion female entrepreneurship.

Women often say to me that it was the inspiration – and reassurance – of seeing other women succeed that spurred them on. And women often thrive from being able to share ideas with others and having mentors.

So I am also pleased to announce that we will soon be launching a PR campaign to raise awareness of the potential which enterprise offers women and the potential which women’s enterprise offers our regional economies.

I will shortly be inviting a small number of women entrepreneurs to help steer the campaign which will showcase women in the regions starting their businesses or developing their ideas for business. Fittingly, the campaign will culminate in March next year to complement other activities planned for International Women’s Day.

Over 130 thousand women became self-employed in the last 12 months. Some of you will be here today. Congratulations and good luck for the future.

There are still major challenges ahead if we are to substantially increase the level of women’s entrepreneurship in the UK, but just like I hope you’ll be inspired by the people you meet today, I’m always inspired by meeting women entrepreneurs and by the energy and enthusiasm of EVERYWOMAN. I’ll leave here with a spring in my step – even more determined to ensure that we provide the best possible environment and support for you to grow and for many more to follow in your footsteps.