A PROGRAMME to help women who are new to running their own business has launched in Milton Keynes.
MumpreneursMK has created a four-week course entitled Business Start-Up Boost as part of the organisation’s commitment to supporting women and mothers in their enterprise journey.
The course, which will consist of two-hour sessions held once a week from the not-for-profit’s base in Milton Keynes, is specifically aimed at those looking to start a business who may just have an idea at this stage.
The free programme will give participants the opportunity to explore the foundations of what it takes to bring a new business to life and will also help them to develop their business plans while also looking at immediate and long-term growth strategies.
MumpreneursMK founder Bianca Chappell said: “Starting your own business can be an incredibly daunting experience especially if you are trying to balance it with a busy family life.
“Through the Business Start-Up Boost, we want to enable women to succeed in their business ambitions by giving them the right tools they need to move forward with their goals at an early stage in their businesses’ development.”
MumpreneursMK was created in 2012 to support the start-up and entrepreneurial
development journey of mums in enterprise through networking and skills-development. The programme officially launched as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.
The new Business Start-Up Boost has been backed by NatWest’s Back Her Business campaign following the outputs of the recent Rose Review, which recently revealed that only 5.6% of women run their own business and further bank data shows that women are half as likely as men to start a business.
Another output to assist with financial support is a Crowdfunder initiative, which aims to make more funds accessible to female-led businesses.
Bianca said: “We are thrilled to be working with NatWest on their Back Her Business campaign. The bank has been an incredible support to us and the work we are carrying out, and this will ensure we can support more women start their own businesses over the next 12 months.”
Trevor Maxwell, NatWest’s regional head of business development in the Midlands and East of England, said: “MumpreneursMK is a fantastic organisation that is supporting mums and women from across the country in their business ambitions.
“The Rose Review reveals a worrying trend among would-be female entrepreneurs. We were told that they felt there was a lack of appropriate finance, mentoring, role models, local support and tailored advice and with Back Her Business, we want to tackle this head on, and the work being carried out by MumpreneursMK compliments our ambition.”
