Member Article

EU Funded Visionary Women Supports Women Executives

Women professionals and entrepreneurs from 15 North Yorkshire companies are taking part in an innovative business and personal development programme funded by the Government and the EU.

The women, from senior executives in professional services to small business owners working in agriculture, leisure and tourism, manufacturing and voluntary and community services, have joined the programme run by national talent development company, Beyond 2030, York, financed by the EU Social Fund and The Skills Funding Agency through York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Enterprise Partnership.

A three-month innovative programme of intensive bespoke coaching to enable women to focus on their business and professional ambitions has been launched by Beyond 2030 which was commissioned by Calderdale College and Grimsby Institute as part of a strategy to help small-to-medium-sized enterprises to grow by nurturing talent and skills development.

Visionary Women was devised by Beyond 2030 founder and chief executive, Toni Eastwood, a former director of talent and academy at Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc, who was awarded an OBE in 2007 in recognition of her work towards equal opportunities.

Toni Eastwood, who has spent 26 years in leadership, talent and skills development, says: “More and more women are successful in business but many have responsibilities, experiences and needs that are different to men’s with natural physical and emotional stages when they must evaluate their commitments and aspirations to ensure that they get the best out of life.

“Visionary Women is an inspiring programme which enables them to establish their personal and professional goals and re-discover their confidence and enthusiasm about where they want their business to go by unlocking their potential and transcending the natural obstacles which arise and the barriers they put up as a result.”

The programme applies psychological, behavioural and philosophical techniques, drawn from some of the world’s best known brands and most successful entrepreneurs, to stimulate discussion and enable the delegates to evaluate their needs away from their work and home and support one another is well as one-to-one coaching from Toni Eastwood and the specialist team at Beyond 2030.

Toni Eastwood adds: “We are very pleased with the speed of take up for places on the programme and the range of delegates in terms of their professions, businesses and aspirations. They are already telling us how valuable Visionary Women is.

“Research suggests that 900,000 more British businesses would be created if the UK achieved the same level of female entrepreneurship as in the US, resulting in an additional £23bn gross value added to the UK economy.”

Beyond 2030, Fulford, York, founded in 2012, has more than 125 years of combined experience in talent development including with entrepreneurship, business growth and development; leadership and management, employability, diversity and inclusion and undertakes research into the issues and needs surrounding talent development to benefit businesses and individuals.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mike Clarke .