Partner Article

Corporations join government to help women entrepreneurs

An initiative attempting to break down the barriers faced by women-owned businesses in securing corporate contracts was launched at the House of Commons this week. The Women’s Enterprise Task Force (WETF) announced the WEConnect (Women in Enterprise Connecting to Contracts) scheme on Tuesday.

According to WETF’s figures, although 16 per cent of UK businesses are women owned, only 3 to 5 per cent of corporate and public sector contracts go to women business enterprises (WBEs).

The new initiative will put certified WBEs in touch with procurement contacts in multi-national companies. Based on a US scheme, the scheme has already signed up major corporates including Pfizer, Microsoft, Bank of America and Accenture.

Marianne Schoenig, Sustainable Procurement Lead at Accenture UK, said: “To provide high performance to our clients, we depend on flexibility, creativity and cost-competitiveness in our supply base. The more inclusive and diverse we are in our procurement operations, the greater our chances of tapping into excellent niche supply sources. We are delighted to support WEConnect in their mission to increase representation of high potential under-utilised businesses in corporate supply chains.”

Woman business owner Suzanne Doyle-Morris is one of the first batch of women-owned businesses certified by WEConnect. She said: “I’m delighted about WEConnect because it gives me the chance to build relationships with large organisations that want to work with women-owned businesses. “It’s pushed me to think bigger than I would have otherwise. To play with the big boys, we need to be thinking bigger ourselves!”

To find out more about the scheme visit www.weconnect.org.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .