Tag Archives: entrepreneurs

Advice For Female Entrepreneurs By Neeta Patel

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neeta patel entrepreneur We have a great article from Neeta Patel, CEO of New Entrepreneurs Foundation.

Neeta is an experienced executive with over 20 years of strategy and operational leadership
experience in launching new ventures, business turnarounds and change and has a sharp focus on growth and revenues. She has a successful track record of turning ideas and concepts into tangible businesses. Her experience spans financial services, media & publishing, education, arts and the creative industries. She has also led two of her own start-ups.

Prior to joining the New Entrepreneurs Foundation, Neeta worked in Private Equity matching
technology entrepreneurs with investors. Neeta has held senior positions at Thomson Financial (Reuters), Legal & General PLC, Financial Times Group and at the British Council. She is an early internet pioneer having launched the first personal finance web site in Europe for L&G in 1996.

Neeta holds an MA in Chemistry from Oxford University, an MBA (Marketing) from Cass Business School, and a Sloan Fellowship in Strategy and Leadership from London Business School, where she was the winner of the PWC prize in 2009 for a consultancy assignment in China.

Here is her advice:

An entrepreneur needs to have certain key skills and personality traits in order to be successful.I have had many discussions and debates about this, and yet gender has never come up as a particular element. I am reluctant to single out women entrepreneurs in some ways because by doing so, the inference is that they need special help and advice. They don’t. However, there are a number of factors which hold women back when contemplating setting up as an entrepreneur, and I feel its important to encourage them to overcome these and discover how good life as a female entrepreneur can really be. Following a really inspiring female entrepreneur’s event we organised at the New Entrepreneurs Foundation recently, I wanted to share some of the wisdom from leading female entrepreneurs which may help anybody wavering over whether to take the plunge.

Women-led businesses add £70 billion to the UK economy. The latest stats from the Department
of Business, Innovation and skills show that the number of women starting their own business has increased. It still stands at only 19%, but is heading in the right direction. More encouraging is the fact that a quarter of new businesses which are two to three years old have been started by women.

So why do women need extra advice, if they are doing so well anyway? The reason is that not
enough of them are taking the plunge.

Lack of self belief seems to be one of the main reasons. Many women tell me they don’t think they will be taken seriously, that they don’t think they will be viewed as credible when they pitch for investment and that the business world is too tough to make an impact.

Having had years of pitching to some of the scariest venture capitalists around during the early stages of my career, I know what I am talking about when I say that success is nothing to do with gender but with how well you prepare and how well you know your numbers and your business and the market in which it operates.

Remember that women often have far better emotional intelligence than men, and this is very
useful as an entrepreneur in a whole host of ways including negotiating, picking your team and reading people and situations effectively.

Eleanor Mills is Associate Editor of the Sunday Times and one of Britain’s most high profile
commentators. She was fantastically inspiring to potential entrepreneurs at our event recently. She was adamant that women must support each other in business. There is, she says, a specific place in hell for women who don’t.

Geeta Sidhu-Robb, who trained as a lawyer, benefitted from the phenomenally successful Anglo
Scandinavian investments run by her ex-husband in the 90s but when their marriage ended, became penniless. She had three small children to look after on her own, but, armed with those qualities which mark out an entrepreneur she set up a new business called Nosh Detox, which she ran from her kitchen, delivering personalised organic food packages. She is once again very successful and urges other women to become self-sufficient. The only thing that gets in the way of your success is yourself, she maintains.

Adele Barlow, another panellist was so encouraged by the number of young, aspiring female
entrepreneurs who attended the evening that she wrote an excellent blog offering some great tips for wannabe female entrepreneurs, cautioning women to choose their female friends wisely, why you should ignore the nagging from your mother about your love life, and how to choose a good hero, or heroine.

Other advice that was well-received during the event included going for crowd funding rather than traditional methods of fund raising, and exhortations not to be squeamish about being supremely confident when pitching for money. It’s not showing off!

Finally, I would say think really positively about being a female entrepreneur. You have far more flexibility and freedom to run your business and balance your quality of life than you would have in regular employment and if you relish a challenge there are few things more exciting in life than making your own business succeed.

 

StartUp Saturday launches: Start your business in a day

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Enterprise Nation have announced the national expansion of its successful StartUp Saturday one day workshops to help thousands more people turn an idea into a business and become their own boss!

For budding entrepreneurs who haven’t been able to attend the monthly workshops in London, StartUp Saturday classes are now coming to a town near you with Birmingham and Morecambe as the first two launch locations.

The ‘start your own business in a day’ workshops will be hosted and delivered by talented and entrepreneurial StartUp Saturday franchisees. Until now, the one-day workshop that offers everything you need to know about starting a business has been delivered by Enterprise Nation founder, Emma Jones, in London. Jones says: “Based on feedback from small business owners around the country, we are spreading our wings and will be coming to locations nationwide.”

The first StartUp Saturday franchisee is Enterprise Nation community member Rickie Josen.

Rickie Josen will be launching her first session at Hotel La Tour, Birmingham on Saturday 22nd September. Rickie has been self employed since 2004 and has run two different businesses during this time, with her last few years being focused on organising events and training alongside writing.

“My motto is that knowledge is gained to be shared and I love passing on knowledge, especially when it means people can get to the information sooner than I did when starting out in business. I would have loved to have attended a StartUp Saturday when I was starting out back in 2004!” says Rickie

“Enterprise Nation has been a place for me to turn since it launched and over the years I’ve enjoyed contributing by writing about my love of being self-employed. It’s the first place I suggest new businesses turn so it makes perfect sense for me to be a StartUp Saturday franchisee!”

Following a successful launch of workshops in Birmingham, StartUp Saturday will continue to expand to new locations with a vision of having weekly workshops up and down the UK!

Rickie can be contacted on write@rickiejosen.co.uk or on Twitter @RickieWrites

To book your place, please visit:

London: http://startupsaturday2012.eventbrite.com/

Birmingham: http://startupsaturdaybirmingham.eventbrite.com/

Morecambe: http://startupsaturdaymorecambe.eventbrite.com/

If you are interested in becoming a franchisee, please visit www.enterprisenation.com/startupsaturdayfranchise for details

Enter The Natwest Everywomen Awards.

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ONE MONTH TO GO TO ENTER NATWEST EVERYWOMAN AWARDS.

2012 MARKS A DECADE OF CELEBRATING THE UK’S LEADING FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS

If you are a female entrepreneur then enter into the Natwest Everyomwn Awards. During the ten years since inception the NatWest everywoman Awards have attracted thousands of entries and celebrated Britain’s leading female entrepreneurs. This inspiring programme has commended both household names such as Karren Brady, Hilary Devey, Dame Mary Perkins, Chrissie Rucker and Cath Kidston, along with a multitude of extraordinary women whose businesses both large and small support Britain’s reputation as one of the best countries for enterprise.

In this, their 10th year the NatWest everywoman Awards are reaching out to women in enterprise across the country to put themselves forward. Supported by government and big business alike, the awards acknowledge the drive and tenacity required for successful enterprise, symbolising UK’s best business success and inspiring and motivating the next generation of female entrepreneurs.

The NatWest everywoman Awards are free to enter and nominations can be made by business owners or those connected to them by 20 July 2012. The core award categories are:

Artemis is Goddess of the Hunt and Protector of Youth. This award is given to the most inspirational woman running a business who is aged 25 or under.

Demeter is Goddess of the Harvest. The Demeter Award will go to the most inspirational woman running a business who is aged between 26 and 35.

Athena is Goddess of Wisdom. This award is given to the most inspirational woman running a business who is aged between 36 and 49.

Hera is Queen of Goddesses and her wisdom and ability to inspire provide the basis for this award. This award is given to the most inspirational woman running a business who is aged 50 or over.

Other award categories include:

Iris is Messenger of the Gods, and is awarded to the most inspirational and successful female entrepreneur who runs a technology business that makes a difference, provides real solutions in the world today and, ultimately, is instrumental in building a smarter planet.

Hestia represents the hearth and home and is presented to a female entrepreneur who runs a rural business contributing to the local economy.

Gaia represents the earth and is presented to a female entrepreneur whose business has a clearly defined social and/or ethical purpose.

Karen Gill MBE, Co-founder and Director of everywoman says, “SMEs make up over 99% of the total number of businesses in the UK* so in terms of our economic health it is vital that we support and acknowledge their contribution to Britain plc. If we do not take steps to champion female enterprise so that future generations see it as a viable career choice, we will risk irreparable damage to our already fragile economy.

“Over ten years the NatWest everywoman Awards have done just that, recognising scores of women who have achieved business success through hard work, determination and passion and who are role models for future generations of female entrepreneurs.”

*Federation of Small Business, November 2011

Anne Mcpherson, Managing Director, Diversity in Business, NatWest says, “We are delighted to support the NatWest everywoman awards for the 10th year running. Over the years the awards have been a great encouragement to women entrepreneurs. At NatWest we have certainly seen an upturn in women owned businesses in the past few years and we are committed to encouraging more female entrepreneurship. Our 200 Women in Business ambassadors across the country share and understand our customers’ ambitions and provide the coaching and mentoring that helps them fulfill their potential and build successful businesses”.

Nominations are made online at www.everywoman.com/ewawards until 20 July and will be judged by a panel of accomplished businesswomen and entrepreneurs.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony held on 5 December 2012 at The Dorchester in London attended by celebrities, VIPs and major figures from the worlds of business and politics. ­

Frost editor chosen as one of Britain's female entrepreneurs.

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Frost editor Catherine Balavage was chosen by the FSB as one of the top Female entrepreneurs in the UK and was featured in a book to celebrate International Women’s Day. The book can be viewed here. Well done Catherine!

Frost is looking for more stories of entrepreneurs. Do you own a business? Get in touch.

Entrepreneurs encourage young people to become economically active

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As the latest unemployment figures spike to a 17 year high, two young entrepreneurs prove that a disastrous job market is no obstacle

Unemployment in the UK has hit a 17 year high this month, putting pressure on the government to come up with a better economic strategy. The number of young people out of work is close to the million mark, with 991,000 16-24-year-olds out of work. The new figures, which take into account the last three months, are the worst since records began in the early 1990s.

Kevin Flood and Mike Harty, despite the doom and gloom of the employment market, have set up a unique online company straight out of university as an alternative to getting lost in the crowded jobs scrum. What’s more they are setting out to topple the online giants in the price comparison site arena.

Shopow.co.uk, their Social Shopping start-up, is a new type of shopping search engine that aggregates thousands of retailers and millions of products across all areas of consumer goods. Not only does this allow users to compare goods by criteria such as price, retailer, service and delivery, it also integrates various social functions so shoppers can find all the information they need to make the right decisions when buying online.

Kevin Flood, CEO of Shopow, said, “Our novel idea has meant that we were able to compete against some of the long established names from the outset. All budding entrepreneurs wishing to succeed shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a strong concept. We coupled this with our hard work ethic, detailed research and willingness to take the odd calculated risk in order to get our business off the ground and gathering momentum quickly.”

This momentum has resulted in the pair winning a Young Guns Business Award. Since the launch of Shopow in May 2010, the business anticipates revenues of over £3m in the first year of trading. The pair are confident they can achieve a ‘critical mass’ in the UK this year, and are looking to expand into the USA and mainland Europe imminently.

The message from Kevin and Mike is that business savvy individuals with a great idea can be masters of their own destiny and bypass the busy job market. Recent measures to tackle unemployment such as the Government Work Programme have generated optimism for some bright sparks, and opened other avenues so that they might create companies of their own.

Kevin Flood, Co-founder and CEO of Shopow, said, “We set up Shopow because of our love of business. There were so few opportunities in the job market that we opted to take a risk and move in a new direction, one which we would strongly encourage other young people to pursue.”