Member Article

Women Encouraged to Venture into Business

A new programme to encourage women to develop business ideas has been launched by The North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC) and Service Network. Open to women throughout the North East, the ‘Corporate Ventures for Women’ programme aims to help redress the gender imbalance in business by providing women with the skills and opportunities necessary to turn their business ideas into a reality. The programme consists of a series of workshops delivered by experts over an eight week period. During this time, attendees will be helped to develop their plans and given the opportunities to present their ideas to a panel of potential investors.

Chairperson of Service Network and managing director of Actif, Meryl Dodd said: “Corporate Ventures for Women is an ideal opportunity for hardworking and passionate women to develop their business ideas and I am delighted to add our support to this programme. “There is a wealth of talent in the region and programmes like this combined with the support offered by organisations such as ‘Women into the Network’ are helping to bring down the barriers and open up opportunities for women entrepreneurs”.

BIC special projects manager Willie Herdman added:“The Corporate ventures programme has always been very successful however the low number of female attendees has always been a concern, so following consultation with a number of agencies we decided to develop a programme specifically for women. “Response to the revised programme has been very positive and by joining forces with Service Network we will be able to reach a wider audience.”

Corporate Ventures for Women workshops will be held every Thursday evening over an eight week period, commencing on 2nd February and places can be reserved by contacting Willie Herdman on 0191 516 6140 or by email willie.herdman@ne-bic.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .