Meet the North West women championing change for fellow leaders

Lloyds Bank brings together women across the North to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the next generation of women entrepreneurs

Women business leaders in the North West have joined senior political and regional stakeholders to highlight some of the many hurdles they have to overcome based on their gender.

It comes after Lloyds Bank commissioned important new research, ‘ Women Entrepreneurs: the Northern Perspective ‘, which found that almost three quarters (73%) of women who own businesses in the North West were concerned about not having the same opportunities compared with firms owned by men.

The report also revealed that despite the challenges, women entrepreneurs across the region are embracing growth opportunities and want more access to women-focussed business networks, help with digital skills and support to find new clients.

A specialist panel made up of political leaders and businesswomen, including Wirral South MP and Shadow Minister for Employment, Alison McGovern, and Lloyds Banking Group’s Ambassador for the North, Emily Cox, collaborated to share their experiences on women entrepreneurship and the findings of the report.

Chaired by Alistair Houghton, Business Live Editor for Reach PLC, the panel also included:

• Aisling O’Brien, Owner of O’Brien’s Pharmacy Group
• Michelle Cameron, Senior Policy and Strategic Communications Advisor at Liverpool Chamber of Commerce
• Lindsey Moore, Business Development and Marketing Manager at the Help to Grow Programme, University of Liverpool
• Sheena McDermott, Head of Leadership and Management Programmes at Be for Business
• Katie O’Donovan, Public Policy Manager at Google UK
• Carla Yearsley, Regional Development Director for the North West for Lloyds Banking Group

Growth in women entrepreneurs

Latest figures show an encouraging rise in the number of women-owned businesses. In 2021 there were 145,000 women business owners in the UK, up from 56,000 in 2018. However, panellists identified that this growth could be even stronger with the right support.

Emily Cox, Ambassador for the North for Lloyds Banking Group, explained: “I have a deep interest in seeing as many businesses as possible succeed and I think everyone needs to do more to help what should be half of the region’s entrepreneurs. I don’t think there are nearly as many women producing and scaling up their business as there should be. That’s not because women lack creativity, brilliant ideas, or the ability to set up businesses.

“Our research into the views of women business leaders showed that the challenge is more about making that next step to expand.”

She added: “While many women across the North West are embracing growth opportunities, be it finding new clients or developing digital skills, we need to make sure there is access to the guidance they need.”

Mentoring and skills development

Alison McGovern MP went on to discuss how mentoring and skills development are both critical to women entrepreneurs, and touched on how the government can help.

She said: “The government can play a role in supporting women. Take apprenticeship funding, for example. We need to benchmark it to make sure it’s really helping to develop the skills needed. To do this, the government needs to look at who the schemes are reaching and the impact they are having.

“Women of all levels need to be able to access information in different ways. From mentoring to advice on upskilling, more needs to be done. But role models and mentoring will only work if they are relatable for people across the North.”

Understanding and addressing challenges

Aisling O’Brien, who set up the O’Brien’s Pharmacy Group 22 years ago and now runs 10 pharmacies across the North West, shared her experiences of founding a business, being a mum of three, and the challenges she faced at almost every stage growing her company.

She said: “One of the struggles I’ve had over the years is that my male colleagues have expanded much more rapidly than I have. They’ve been to evening events with other colleagues to socialise and make contacts, while I’ve been home with the children. I’ve never been able to gain those contacts and those links in the same way my male peers have.”

Aisling added: “Having women contacts within financial institutions is a big thing. As a woman, you feel you’re talking to someone that could also be a working mum and understand what we’re going through.”

Lindsey Moore, from the Help to Grow Programme at University of Liverpool, agreed that many women on her course struggle with work-life balance but that coaching could be a valuable aid. She explained: “We need to provide a group or forum for women to meet other women who are going through or have been through the process themselves.”

Speaking about other challenges, Carla Yearsley, Lloyds Banking Group’s Regional Development Director for the North West, highlighted that access to funding and finance was identified as an issue by 61% of respondents in the bank’s Women Entrepreneurs study.

Carla said: “We listened to women business leaders and found that more than half said access to funding was the biggest barrier they faced in their business. This is a stark response and something we’re addressing with our increasing access to support, free advice, and detailed client conversations. Only then can we really work closely to offer tailored support and access to our resources, both internally and through our partnerships, to support our businesses not only grow, but thrive. With public and private sectors working together, there is a lot we can do.”

Encouraging the younger generation

The panel also highlighted issues around gender that often arise much earlier on, usually at the start of most women’s education.

Michelle Cameron, of Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, said: “We should be going back to the fundamentals, at the beginning of the education system, and looking at the ways in which we engage young women. It’s about raising aspirations and tackling the issues of gender bias.”

The next step

The panel noted that there is plenty of help available for women entrepreneurs and resources are growing, with more flexible ways of accessing help being introduced.

Katie O’Donovan from Google UK, highlighted how its Digital Garages tech and digital skills training shifted to be an online service during the pandemic. The change has proven successful, enabling women to learn and access resources at a time that worked for them, so the company plans to keep offering the service online as well as in-person. Katie noted how it had been especially beneficial to women with family or care commitments.

Sheena McDermott, who works for Be the Business, a not-for-profit organisation offering free resources to help small businesses, explained that there is so much willingness from women business leaders to support each other. However, she noted that there still needs to be a more help for women to build networks and relationships with their peers.

Emily Cox’s closing remarks reminded the panellists about the importance of collaboration going forward. She said: “Having these conversations is a great starting point but if we’re going to see positive change, it’s imperative we increase our collaboration across businesses and industries to find the right solutions. We’ll continue to listen to women business leaders so we’re best placed to help them achieve their ambitions going forward.”

Article Credits: Echo