Member Article

Manchester seeking 50 female entrepreneurs

Manchester is seeking fifty women to become the city’s next wave of social entrepreneurs.

Manchester City Council has agreed to support Make A Wave, which aims to train 250 women across the UK to become social business leaders and start their own projects to bring significant benefits to their communities. Manchester will host a fifty-strong cohort and women over the age of 18 are invited to apply by Sunday 15 December.

Make A Wave, run by Ogunte, is a one-year training programme designed to help women create their own social enterprise projects, arming them with the right skills to get started on the path to success.

Social entrepreneurs lead community-focused projects in a wide range of fields - anything from education, housing, sport and leisure, to digital technology, food, the arts and fashion.

Make A Wave is open to all women over the age of 18 living in Manchester and will involve a business skills ‘bootcamp’, online training exercises and mentoring from accomplished social entrepreneurs, plus a series of local networking events – all aimed at encouraging each participant to develop their own social project by the end of the course.

Councillor Sue Murphy, Deputy Leader of Manchester City Council, said: “We hope that the Make A Wave programme will result in the creation of a wealth of social enterprises, which will be of huge benefit to communities in Manchester and which will all be run by talented, motivated women.

“The scheme will give quality mentoring and inspiration to women who want to make a real difference locally, while also gaining a solid foundation of business skills that will help them to forge successful careers in the future.”

Jo McGrath, of Enterprise Stuff Ltd, who will act as regional connector for Manchester’s Make A Wave cohort, said: “I’m delighted to be involved in such an exciting and dynamic programme for women in Manchester. It’s a fantastic opportunity for aspiring women entrepreneurs to start 2014 with purpose and enrol on a flexible, year-long enterprise support programme.

“During the year, we will work together to develop business ideas, network with other amazing innovators and gain invaluable experience and knowledge.”

Councillor Suzanne Richards, Chair of Manchester’s International Women’s Day Steering Group, said: “When it comes to setting up a business, women often experience more barriers than men. Make A Wave will help women entrepreneurs in our city overcome these barriers with quality training and support.

“Encouraging entrepreneurship is a vital part of creating growth and jobs in Manchester. I hope Make A Wave will establish a new generation of women social entrepreneurs who will in turn inspire and support future generations of women in the city.”

The scheme is aimed at women who have some experience of working with a campaign, charity, voluntary group or other activity benefitting local people or the environment, but have never received any formal enterprise training, or formally led an organisation.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .