South East England Development Agency (SEEDA)

Pam Alexander To Co-Chair New National Task Force For Womens Enterprise

17 November 2006

Women's enterprise is a critical driver in achieving economic prosperity and higher productivity, South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) Chief Executive, Pam Alexander said today, after being appointed as co- Chair of a new Task Force for Women's Enterprise by Small Business Minister, Margaret Hodge.

Alongside her co-Chair Glenda Stone, Chief Executive of Aurora, the new Task Force will champion the strengths of women's enterprise and encourage more women across the country to start and run successful businesses.

Pam attributed her appointment as an endorsement of the considerable and impressive work that SEEDA has already undertaken in elevating the profile of female entrepreneurs throughout the region. She said: "Supporting more women to create businesses is a key strategic priority for SEEDA. Much of the wealth and dynamism of the South East is based on the growth of new businesses – and 28 per cent of these are started by women. Realising the untapped potential of women's enterprise can make a dramatic and positive contribution to accelerating the region's business start up rate. Currently, around 50,000 South East businesses are owned by women. SEEDA's aim is to increase this figure by 10,000 by 2016 and I am confident that we will achieve this target."

Identifying links with the new Regional Economic Strategy for the South East , Pam said: "The South East is a world class region but there is no reason for complacency. We have new challenges facing us such as global competitiveness; the need to promote greater innovation and productivity for future prosperity and the choices we must make to achieve both in a sustainable manner. The Strategy focuses on addressing the barriers to engaging economically excluded and inactive people and enabling them to contribute their ideas and skills to enhance the prosperity of the South East and their own quality of life. Many women are entrepreneurs from necessity as well as inspiration and SEEDA is energetically committed to implementing improved and better targeted support for women's enterprise."

Top of the agenda for the new Task Force is assessing the impact of the regional economic strategies in increasing women's enterprise rates nationally. Women-owned businesses across the UK generate between £50 and £70 billion for the economy. All nine English Regional Development Agencies (RDA's) are now implementing women's enterprise strategies and action plans. SEEDA, as the lead RDA on women's enterprise, has already been actively working with a range of influential partners on key priorities including:

• Making women-friendly local business support available to all women regardless of where they reside or social/ethnic background
• Making access to finance more attainable
• Overcoming disincentives for women to move from benefits into self-employment
• Improving flexible childcare facilities for women entrepreneurs
• Creating increased awareness of the importance of women's enterprise
• Connecting members of the women's enterprise community with one another and with public policy makers

Pam concludes: "In the South East, our competitive advantage depends upon using all our available resources effectively. It is crucial that we harness the talents and skills of our female entrepreneurs and do all we can to encourage them to prosper. By sharing best practice and finding more inspirational role models, we can make a huge social and economic difference to both the South East and in my new role, UK plc as well."

To find out more about the Women's Enterprise Task Force, please visit www.womensenter prise.co.uk.