Member Article

Campaign proves Girls Allowed in business start-ups

An awareness campaign in the North of England has proven that the spirit of enterprise is alive and kicking with over 200 women signing up to ‘join the million’ women already self-employed in the UK. The join the million campaign – a Northern Way initiative led by a union of the three Northern RDAs (Yorkshire Forward, One NorthEast, and North West Development Agency) – is part of an increased drive in the North of England to raise the number of new business start-ups from 30 per 10,000 people (the rate in 2002) to 33 per 10,000 people by 2008.

First announced on 8 March 2007 to coincide with International Women’s Day, the campaign to promote women’s enterprise across the North of England derives its inspiration from recent news that women-owned businesses in the UK had broken the one million barrier for the first time. The campaign then fully launched in mid-April with a raft of promotional activities, including direct mailers, radio adverts, advans and a poster campaign in supermarkets and ladies toilets across the North of England. Over 200 women have already contacted the campaign to request more information about joining the million.

The offline activity has been matched by a targeted online campaign reaching women through emails, google ads and flyers on popular e-networking site Facebook. This has resulted in over 20,000 hits in just over two weeks to dedicated website www.jointhemillion.co.uk, which offers information around starting a business, including details of local networks and support services, an events diary and real life stories from a bank of over 30 female role models who have been recruited to the campaign. The use of role models as part of the campaign comes in response to research by the DTI’s Strategic Framework for Women’s Enterprise which identified the lack of appropriate role models as a major barrier for the transition of women into self employment.

The campaign is approaching its close, so anyone wishing to join the million should visit the website before 9am on Monday 14 May.

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