The International #FQ2 Conference Launches the UK Economic Blueprint For Women
London (PRWEB) October 28, 2015 -- The second International Female Quotient (#FQ2) Conference takes place on Wednesday October 28 at The Shard in London, in the Warwick Business School venue. The conference will highlight key research findings on women’s enterprise and launch an exciting ten-point plan and deployment framework that underpins the development of the first UK Economic Blueprint for Women.
The conference is being organised by Pink Shoe Foundation (Pink Shoe) in collaboration with the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), an independent centre which provides research and commentary on SMEs and enterprise. It is the second Female Quotient conference organised by Pink Shoe and supports the growth of women-owned businesses in the UK. The first conference, held in October last year, discussed the state of opportunities for women in business. A direct outcome was 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, who participated and presented in last year’s conference, were at the time looking outside the US to take their tested model to pilot in a country where it would make a difference. In the weeks following that first conference, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Pink Shoe Foundation with 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 a fairer 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).
The year’s conference launches the UK Economic Blueprint for Women, which is being driven by the Pink Shoe Senate. The keynote speaker is the Minister of State for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise, the Rt Hon Anna Soubry MP. Other speakers include Stephen Roper, Professor of Enterprise at Warwick Business School, Mark Hart, Professor of Small Business & Entrepreneurship at Aston Business School and Katherine Hathaway, Deputy Director Strategy & Engagement, on secondment from The Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS), Jennifer Bisceglie, President of WIPP International, and Baroness Burt of Solihull.
Jill Pay, Chair of the Pink Shoe Senate, will update on progress since the first FQ conference and describe 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 are sharing recent research findings about women-owned businesses in the UK, while two of the established work streams – access to capital and access to markets - will also be presenting. Confirmed delegates include women business owners , organisations that represent women business owners, influencers and policy makers.
As Jill Pay commented, “This year’s conference is pivotal. It is Day One in Year One of our Economic Blueprint framework and we are now promoting our work streams to women-owned businesses everywhere in the UK. In the past year, we have established the work streams and set out their terms of reference. We are primarily working with nationally based organisations and networks of women-owned businesses, in order to reach the largest possible number of women-owned businesses.”
Helen Martin Gee continued, “The UK Economic Blueprint has set down a marker which will act as a strong beacon to female entrepreneurs and women owned businesses. The Blueprint has strong support from Ministers, MPs and Peers and via the All Party Parliamentary Group for Entrepreneurship and other leading All Party groups. We will use advocacy and influence to seek policy and economic solutions to improve opportunities for women led businesses and with the assistance of our international and UK partners and supporters, we are confident that we can achieve our goals.”
The Conference is sponsored by Addidi Wealth and supported by The Sourcing Team.
Pink Shoe Foundation is an influential and innovative business network that works to positively impact life-long development of women. Established in 2007 in London, Pink Shoe creates initiatives across the UK to advance talented women at all levels. Its special focus on Entrepreneurship includes working in partnership with key Parliamentary groups to generate a range of vibrant and interactive events connecting prominent and emerging entrepreneurs, and young people of all backgrounds with Parliament. For more information, please visit http://www.pinkshoeclub.com.
WIPP International’s mission is to build powerful collaborative networks among leading, women-led organisations to leverage their joint power to negotiate for policy and economic solutions to enable women to achieve economic independence and participate fully in their country’s economic growth. For more information, please visit http://www.WIPPinternational.org.
Candice Bennett, Candice Bennett & Associates, Inc., http://www.candicebennett.com, +1 7039196231, [email protected]
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