SHIFTING GEARS: WOMEN’S ENTERPRISE MOVING ON

Women’s Enterprise Scotland (WES), one of our strategic partners, will be hosting an exciting international conference in Scotland on the 12th and 13th of May 2015. A key aim of WES is to create an environment which enables and supports more women to start up and grow their own businesses. As the first European country to establish a strategic framework and action plan, Scotland is leading the way in this vital work which is already supporting a number of new and established businesses, and also developing strategic partnerships with national business support and advice agencies.

The conference will be attended by those involved in supporting businesses, practitioners, policy makers and academics – and the event will explore a number of themes relevant to women’s enterprise including the latest international research, best practice, future trends analysis and real life business experiences. The conference offers an unparalleled opportunity for those interested in women’s business leadership to learn and network in an international environment.

The speakers include Julie Weeks, CEO of Womenable, USA who previously worked in an advisory role to the U.S. President and Congress; Anne Lise Kjaer, a leading futurist and author; Nora Senior, President of the British Chambers of Commerce; and Vicky Pryce, Centre for Economic & Business Research and former joint Head of the UK Government Economic Service. The conference will be opened by a keynote speech from a Scottish Government Minister. Maggie Berry, our Executive Director for Europe, will also be participating in a panel discussion that will include supplier diversity as a topic.

This important international event is open to both men and women and they anticipate a good gender mix will be in attendance. The format of the conference will be highly collaborative with many opportunities to exchange views and experiences and network with a number of diverse agencies and specialists. Full details can be found here: http://wescotland.co.uk/conference/ – WEConnect International women-owned businesses can take advantage of the early bird third sector rate until Friday 10th April. If you have any questions about the conference or would like to find out more, please don’t hesitate to contact Maggie on mberry@weconnectinternational.org.