Female enterprise goal for city’s Global Entrepreneurship Congress
The entrepreneurial eyes of the world will focus on Liverpool in March when it hosts the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC), the first time the celebration of enterprise has been staged in Europe.
More than 3,000 delegates are expected to attend the week-long event, from March 9-16, travelling from 140 countries to learn about setting up in business and share best practice in overcoming the barriers to establishing a successful venture.
A key element of the forthcoming global gathering will be a focus on increasing the number of female entrepreneurs.
Recent data shows that 50% of the general UK population have considered setting up their own business – yet only 5.8% actually fulfil their dream.
And, once they have taken the decision to trust their instincts, the attrition rate among fledgling firms is horrendous.
Of 270,000 new companies established in the UK each year, 220,000 will fail.
But, the indications show that women will be less likely to take the plunge.
Although there are more than 104m women across the globe, between 18 to 64 years old, involved in starting and running new business ventures, and another 83m women still running established businesses that they started more than 3½ years earlier, scrutiny of female entrepreneurship patterns has found that they are less likely to succeed compared with male counterparts because fear of failure is more prevalent among female entrepreneurs.
Research suggests that they are more likely to be dissuaded from entrepreneurship due to fear of failure, and, like men, while they are just as likely to see entrepreneurship as attractive, they are less likely to believe there are a lot of opportunities for starting businesses in their area.
So, while the GEC is seen as a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity for potential entrepreneurs across the region to benefit from best practice and support, the Liverpool-based Women’s Organisation – formerly Train 2000 – is spearheading an ambitious programme of events during the GEC to highlight the opportunities and support available for female entrepreneurs.
The Women’s Organisation, founded by chief executive Maggie O’Carroll, confirmed its international status last year with the official opening of its £5.2m purpose-build Women’s International Centre for Economic Development (Wiced) within the Baltic Triangle.
And it has launched its own GEC programme for Women’s Enterprise on March 14, working with partners Liverpool Vision, the region’s regeneration agency, and the US-based Kauffman Foundation, which are organising the March congress.
Maggie O’Carroll said: "The programme is an exciting blend of female enterprise, showcasing the latest cutting- edge research, education and policy development." She said at its heart will be an exciting blend of real life business experience from successful female entrepreneurs.
The programme comprises a Global Research Symposium on female Entrepreneurship which will bring together leading researchers in the field of female entrepreneurship to review the most recent and unique research conducted in 59 economies, analysing how many women are starting businesses, the types of businesses and the challenges they face.
Contributors will include Prof Patricia Greene, of Babson College, USA, and Prof Tom Cannon, from the University of Liverpool Management School.
A Female Business Mastermind will showcase successful women in business experts who will answer quick-fire questions on business problems, streamed live and posed by a global female entrepreneurial audience.
www.gec2012.com
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