The Women’s Enterprise Policy Group (WEPG) has made fresh calls for more gender-responsive policy to address gaps identified in COVID-19 enterprise support schemes. In this blog, we cover the new report, insights from our inspiring Members, and updated guidance on the government’s support schemes.
Female Founder Highlights
Here is a quick wrap up of this week’s news highlights, featuring some of our inspiring Members:
A new report from the Women’s Enterprise Policy Group (WEPG) has warned of a “catastrophic economic impact” if government policy fails to support women’s enterprise. The group is urging the Chancellor to bring them to the policy table to help shape policy that ‘Builds Back Better’ for women entrepreneurs, for the economy, and for society. Roseann Kelly MBE, CEO of Women in Business NI said the study outlines how current policies have failed to reflect the extra challenges female entrepreneurs face from childcare, gender bias to access finance. Read the full article here.
TechRound interviewed our Member, Tugce Bulut about the challenges she has faced as she grows Streetbees and her thoughts on being a Female Founder in 2020. “There is no such thing as ‘female’ or ’male’ entrepreneur, you are simply an entrepreneur but the reality is that there’s still a distinct lack of diversity among c-level positions in business, particularly tech.” You can read the full article here.
BBC covered its most memorable interviews over the years for its CEO Secrets series, including their interview with Female Founders Forum Member and Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts where she revealed crushing feedback from early potential investors who told her “she didn’t look the part.” Read more stories about finding resilience here.
Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire and our Member has urged people to treat themselves to a meal out in support of the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ campaign for the hospitality industry. Harriett said, “hospitality is one of the industries that will need extra support as we try to protect as many jobs as possible.” Read the full article here.
Government Support
Grants for businesses completing customs declarations
Businesses can apply for 3 grants to help their business complete customs declarations. They can apply for funding for:
Training that helps a business to complete customs declarations and processes;
Hiring new staff to help their business complete customs declarations; and
IT improvements to help their business complete customs declarations more efficiently.
You can find out more information about the scheme, eligibility criteria, and how to apply here.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and overtime work
The government has published updated guidance on calculating how much employees can claim under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme for fixed employees who have worked enough overtime (in the tax year 2019 to 2020) to have a significant impact on the amount they need to claim.
Barclays Support and Opportunities
Female Founders Forum 2020 Digital Events
We are pleased to announce that Alexandra Daly, founder of AA Advisors and Julia Elliott Brown, founder of Enter The Arena will be joining our first webinar on Access to Finance on Thursday, 3 September 2020 from 10 am - 11:30 am. You can sign up for the event here.
As we mentioned in last week’s Newsletter, we will be running additional webinars in this series over the coming months, including:
Attracting & Retaining Talent webinar: 10 am - 11:30 am, Thursday 8 October 2020
Building Personal & Operational Business Resilience webinar: 10 am - 11:30 am, Thursday 5 November 2020
Cementing Your Story webinar: 10 am - 11:30 am, Tuesday 4 December 2020
In each webinar, we will be joined by two eminent high growth Female Founders Forum members, an expert speaker, and hear insights from Juliet Rogan, head of Barclays High Growth & Entrepreneurs team.
If you are interested in attending a specific webinar, please contact jess@tenentrepreneurs.org and we will add you to the invitation list.
Barclays Boosting Female Entrepreneurship Facebook Live event
Join Hannah Bernard, Head of Business Banking as she announces Barclays’ commitments to support female entrepreneurs through COVID-19 and beyond. Hannah will be joined by a panel of experts, including Barclays' long-standing LifeSkills ambassador Baroness Karren Brady CBE, as they offer their top business tips, discuss their own experiences and highlight why it’s so important to develop the next generation of female entrepreneurs whilst supporting the founders of today. Tune in on Wednesday 26 August, 10:00 – 11:00 to our Facebook Live to hear more.
Eagle Labs Virtual Events
Barclays’ programme of virtual events covers a range of topics from cashflow management to building resilience to help entrepreneurs and start-ups navigate these uncertain times. Forthcoming events include a session on thinking differently about social media marketing and an event to demystify AI, machine learning, and machine intelligence. All events are free to attend and open to anyone. For more information visit the Eagle Lab event page.
Barclays Coronavirus Support Hub
The Barclays COVID-19 Support Hub provides the latest information, tools, and guidance to support businesses throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This hub includes information about Barclays’ products, webinars, Facebook Live events, and more information on how to access government schemes. You can also download Barclays’ coronavirus checklist to support your business resilience planning throughout this period. There is also an updated FAQ section on this hub.
We want to inspire female entrepreneurs across the UK. Do you know any inspiring female entrepreneurs?
If so, please connect them directly to me at jess@tenentrepeneurs.org.
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