Women Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation Exchange of experiences between OECD and CEI countries Seminar in Ljubljana, Slovenia 9 / 10 December 2003 Project Profile Project name: WiRE (Women in Rural Enterprise) Region: Shropshire, West Midlands, England (plus national remit) Organisation in charge of the project: Harper Adams University College 1. Project Presentation 1. Project name WIRE (Women in Rural Enterprise) 2. Organisation in charge of the project and its legal status if applicable (enterprise, association, public initiative, private initiative, etc) Harper Adams University College. Higher Education Institution (Charitable Status) 3. Location (country, region, city or place) and date of creation Research into Farm Family income and business networking started in 1997 First project income was given in 1999 and the project was launched in 2000 with a conference. More project funding in 2002 to start to spread the offering nationally 4. Name of the person(s) in charge of the project Izzy Warren-Smith – Director Hannah Robinson – Outreach Manager Clare Hill – Shropshire project Officer 5. How many people are involved? Number of female and male workers On the West Midlands project we now have 4 members of staff (all female). Nationally we have 11, (10 female, 1 male!) 6. If appropriate do you work with family members on a full time basis? Or do you involve family members occasionally? Not at all? For participants we occasionally work with other family members when needed, with regards to staff this question would not apply 2. Identification of the organization in charge of the project PERSON(S) : CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Last name/ first name: Hannah Robinson/Clare Hill Function(s): Outreach Manager/Shropshire Project Manager Language(s):English Address: Harper Adams University College, Edgmond, Shropshire TF10 8NB, UK Tel./ 01952-815338 Fax.:/ 01952-825849 E-mail:/[email protected] or web:www.wireuk.org 3. Original diagnosis, Objectives and Methods BACKGROUND AND GENERAL CONDITIONS IN WHICH THE PROJECT WAS LAUNCHED The last 5 years have not been an easy time for farming and related industries in the UK. Falling farm incomes and the disruption caused by foot and mouth have caused business failures and pressed the need for the industry to diversify. At the same, changing demographics and the in-migration of a professionally qualified middle class population into many rural areas has created both opportunities and a need for employment. Research conducted at Harper (Warren-Smith 1997, 1999) suggests that, in line with the national picture, this employment is taking the form of micro-businesses, particularly in the service sector. During the process of this research it was also identified that there was a dearth of available help and advice that was targeted at the female rural entrepreneur. Whilst other networks exist for female entrepreneurs it was felt that they were aimed at a different, more urban focused business. Similarly, they were invariably located in the larger towns that were not always easily accessible to rural female business owners. Available business advice providers were largely perceived to be ill equipped to help with queries for businesses that had very cultural and location specific problems. Many of the respondents during the process of this research began to address their needs to the researcher Izzy Warren-Smith, and as a result WiRE began as Izzy organised the first conference in 2000. Initially she expected 70 –80 delegates to attend and was overwhelmed with a response of 450 delegates from rural areas all over the UK, which merely served to highlight the need for such an organisation as WiRE to exist DESCRIPTION OF THE OBJECTIVES IN QUALITATIVE AND/OR QUANTITATIVE TERMS 1. Do you have specific objectives in qualitative terms? WiRE is a dynamic networking and business members club aimed at helping as many rural women in whatever way possible, towards starting and maintaining their own rural enterprise. WiRE is particularly aimed at active promotion of business startups, and support for rural micro business. In addition existing business can benefit from access to expert advice, business mentors and financial packages. Based around WiRE’s long standing research of ‘what works’ there is a need for the provision of rural specific training, mentoring, access to finance and furthermore the comfort of a network of ‘likeminded people’. Rural isolation and lack of confidence can prevent women starting a new business in rural areas however the WiRE provisions have proved a means to overcome these barriers and build on business opportunities. 2. Do you have specific objectives in quantitative terms? (example: number of actions to be taken, expected number of beneficiaries, target groups) Since recently being awarded an ESF grant for the West Midlands regions we now have specific outputs for the West Midlands GENERAL APPROACH 1. What was your strategy to achieve the objectives? WiRE is particularly aimed at active promotion of business startups, and support for micro- and SME businesses, targeted at already identified client groups in the rural economy, and across the rural/urban divide. It is not political, but seeks rather to provide help that is currently unavailable to the target group at the present time. Recent awards, such as the sought after DTI/HEFCE Business Fellowship (awarded to Izzy Warren-Smith, WiRE Project Director), and more recently the HEIF bid award, highlight that it is recognised as an exemplar project for ‘reach-out’ in the HE sector. The focus to date has been initially on the West Midlands region. Now, in tandem with Business in the Community (BiTC), it has the potential to expand to a national scale. It aligns closely with the RDA's (eg Advantage West Midlands) Economic Strategy and Action Plan and directly addresses some of the key sectors and clusters identified for growth, namely specialist business and professional services, as well as assisting in the process of creating entrepreneurial communities in the region's rural sector. Public and private sector providers have been consulted with regard to the proposal, and have committed themselves to it. These include Business in the Community (BiTC), The Countryside Agency (CA), HSBC, Harper Adams University College (HAUC), Shropshire Business Link, British Gas and Strawberry Fields Marketing and PR. 2. Did you have different stages in your general strategy and what were the practical steps taken to implement your strategy? WiRE is a nationwide business membership club and is able to offer its central services to members all around the country, as a listed below : Annual membership of WiRE costs just £20, and nationally, includes; • HSBC preferential Business Banking Package • Business Mentoring • Grant signposting • Phone support • Newsletters • WiRE website facilities (www.wireuk.org) • Business listing in the WiRE directory • Umbrella Marketing (web based) • National Conferences Once these offerings are established wherever possible (funding permitting), following the success of WiRE Shropshire, in partnership with SBS/Business Link Shropshire we have begun to offer networking and rural specific training sessions in three market towns, at differing times and locations to facilitate easy access. These have proved to be extremely popular and effective in their outputs for both WiRE members and Business Link Shropshire who provide some of the trainers and mentors. More recently we have branched out into the East Midlands, East of England, Yorkshire and the South West. There is a particularly strong partnership with Business Link Gloucestershire who is partnering WIRE in a number of bids. We are working closely to develop and foster relationship in the other areas, specifically with the Rural Business Desk in Lincolnshire and Business Links throughout Yorkshire. WiRE is keen to establish satellite partnerships in new areas. The strength of these partnerships lay in WiRE’s fast growing membership base in a market segment notoriously difficult to access (the rural community). This arises out of the unique position that Harper Adams University College has within the rural community. It is widely recognised as a ‘brand name’ that is for and thoroughly understands the community it serves. As policy, in any new area that WiRE is invited into it will always seek to work in partnership with SBS/Business Link and the local Agricultural Colleges. 3. What kind of difficulties did you encounter when implementing your strategy? Try to be specific (administrative, economic, financial problems, mentalities…) Some of the problems have been highlighted above but the most time consuming problem is that of access to finance for the project. WiRE often finds itself in the unusual position of having clients that are asking for help but is unable to find the funding that it needs to give that help. Ironically at the same time we are invariably approached by agencies and institutions that have accessed funding, but do not have the customer base to meet their targets and objectives. Although WiRE works wherever possible with these other projects, the objectives, methods of delivery and self imposed constraints mean that their approach is unsuitable for our customer base. Conversely, now that we have ESF funding in the West Midlands the bureaucratic process is so overwhelming there are times when we wonder whether it is worth the funding! The process of accessing funding is often very complex as well as long winded. WiRE can establish an urgent