en
UK & Ireland
The second International Female Quotient (#FQ2) Conference took place last 28th October at The Shard in London, in the Warwick Business School venue (in the photo above are Professor Stephen Roper, Helene Martin-Gee, Alan Mak MP and Jill Pay). The conference highlighted key research findings on women’s enterprise and launched an exciting ten-point plan and deployment framework that underpins the development of the first UK Economic Blueprint for Women.
The conference was organised by Pink Shoe Foundation (Pink Shoe) in collaboration with the Enterprise Research Centre (link is external) (ERC), the UK’s leading independent Research Centre on SMEs and enterprise. A direct outcome of last year’s conference was the agreement by the conference delegates on the concept of a UK Economic Blueprint for Women and a strong partnership with Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) International.
WIPP International were at the time looking outside the US to take their tested model to pilot in a country where it would make a difference. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was then signed between the Pink Shoe Foundation and WIPP International in the US. Pink Shoe has since been confirmed as the delivery partner for the model which underpins the UK Economic Blueprint for Women.
As a result, and with the support of WIPP International, Pink Shoe has developed the framework for the UK Economic Blueprint to drive the growth of women-owned businesses. The Blueprint will help to create the conditions for women owned/led businesses to gain an equal share of business opportunities and contracts nationally and internationally. It is based on four principles: fair access to capital, markets, research and training (including mentoring and coaching).
Jill Pay, Chair of the Pink Shoe Senate, gave an update on progress since the first FQ conference and described the ten point framework, covering the vision, mission and scope of the task force and work streams which have been set up to bring the Economic Blueprint to fruition over the next five years. ERC shared recent research findings about women-owned businesses in the UK, while two of the established work streams – Access to Capital and Access to Markets – were also presented. WEConnect International in Europe is a partner for the Access to Markets work stream.
Delegates included women business owners, organisations that represent women business owners, influencers and policy makers. The conference was sponsored by Addidi Wealth and supported by The Sourcing Team, a WEConnect International certified women’s business enterprise.
