Context
Situated in Newham College’s Businessworks Centre in East Ham, in
East London, the Women’s Business Centre has been created to meet the
new Government Enterprise Strategy proposing the piloting of Women’s
Business Centres across the UK.
Details
The project involved the conversion of 486 square metres of ground floor
space at one of Newham College of Further Education’s premises into a
business centre for women. The centre provides business incubation units,
available for hire by businesses within the Objective 2 Area, which can
accommodate up to 12 business start-ups simultaneously. The centre also
includes common service areas providing ICT services, meeting rooms as well
as a training / seminar area. Coaching and mentoring is available and
provided by specialist advisors. The Centre also acts as a hub for
networking activities and runs regular business development seminars.
The centre is currently working with over 2,000 women and has recently
secured funding from the London Development Agency to support people from
east London into self-employment.
Impact
This project has enabled women from some of the poorest households in
Britain to be encouraged and supported by other women to take charge in
their lives, gain confidence, move into new areas of employment and self
employment, grow their business and be better prepared to overcome the many
barriers that women experience in reaching economic and social
independence. This is all the more noteworthy bearing in mind that a study
undertaken before the start of the Objective 2 Programme found that the
Objective 2 area had higher levels of entrepreneurship than London as a
whole, but was matched by higher rates of business failure. This study also
commented on the considerable differential between male and female self
employment rates in the Objective 2 area. The success of the Women's
Business Centre has shown how European Structural Funds can be used to
address such issues.
