The south east women in business conference held in Wexford on the 19th and 20th of September last was a tremenduous success.

The speakers who addressed a wide range of topics were very well received. You can obtain full details of each of the presentations from the conference blog at www.southeastwomeninbusiness.com.

One of the speakers - Paula Fitzsimons, Management & Strategy Consultant and GEM Co-ordinator in Ireland, challenged the audience to “Go For Growth. What’s Stopping You?” Paula spoke about the entrepreneurial environment in Ireland, stating that approximately 2,000 people each month set up a business in Ireland - and of these roughly 500 are set up by women.

Paula also undertook a questionnaire survey of the audience on the day and provided summary feedback on same later in the conference. She found that of all of those surveyed:

• 88% plan to grow their business over the next five years and most expect to increase their current net profit levels over this period ;
• A minority of just 3% envisage selling the business within that timeframe, while a further 9% are happy for their business to remain as it is;
• One in three of the entrepreneurs surveyed currently have a company turnover of less than €50,000, although the turnover of a significant number is between €50,000 and €100,000 (14%) and a further 22% have a turnover of between €100,000 and €250,000;
• At present most of the businesses are focused on the local market (62%) with smaller numbers focused on regional (14%) and national markets (18%) with a few having export markets as their dominant focus (6%);
• Over the next five years fewer of the entrepreneurs expect to be focused on their local market as their dominant market focus (38%), with an increase in those looking to regional, national and export markets;
• Interestingly, in five years time 15% of the entrepreneurs expect to be predominantly focused on export markets;
• Almost half of the women entrepreneurs attending the conference currently have no direct employees (44%) but they do not expect to stay this way for very long;
• In five years time, over 37% expect to have between 6 and 10 employees, with a further one in four expecting to employ over 11 people. 

Paula also asked the entrepreneurs attending the conference to identify the barriers that  inhibit them from fully achieving their growth ambitions.

The survey findings revealed that the main obstacles were perceived to be internal to the entrepreneur,  rather than factors in the external environment, with the most frequently mentioned being:

• desire to protect work-life balance;
• lack of confidence;
• recruiting the right people;
• challenges associated with managing employees;
• lack of finance; and
• a fear of failure. 

The entrepreneurs had a variety of suggestions as to the best manner in which these barriers could be overcome. Several suggested that it would be helpful to have support to think through the strategic direction of the business, others suggested the support of a Mentor/Coach, ideally someone who has been successful in developing their own business.

Training in developing greater know-how with regard to specific functional issues (e.g. marketing, financial management, staff management and training, systems development and administration) was also suggested as a means to overcoming the barriers to growth. Finally a role for regional support networks was identified as being helpful.

Paula Fitzsimons says the responses to the survey indicate the perception that women do not want to grow their businesses is misplaced. In the words of the EU Action Plan “Entrepreneurial growth rarely happens accidentally: an explicit growth orientation, first and foremost a mindset, is needed.”

Paula says that “We already know from our research that the existence of role models and peers has a positive impact on encouraging early stage entrepreneurship.  That is why we are putting together on a pilot basis a series of roundtables  to provide exactly the kind of support requested by these women, offering peer support under the direction of a ‘lead entrepreneur’ – someone who has established and is running their own business.  The lead entrepreneurs will all be giving their time to this initiative on a voluntary basis. Our plan is to create a forum to support ambitious women entrepreneurs to realise their growth ambitions successful businesses going forward. Our motto is simple -  Going for Growth?  Let’s do it!”

The ‘Going for Growth’ initiative is being supported by the NDP Gender Equality Unit, which is supported by EU funds and by Enterprise Ireland. 

‘Going for Growth’ is part of a wider initiative to encourage more women to start their own business, which includes the first National Women’s Enterprise Day, on Wednesday 21 November at the Mullingar Park Hotel, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, which is being organised and run by the County & City Enterprise Boards (www.nwed.wordpress.com). 

Further information on the Going for Growth initiative may be obtained from the National Director: Paula Fitzsimons – paula@fitzsimons-consulting.com

Sean.

www.kceb.ie