Back in March 2019, HM Treasury and Alison Rose published the ‘Rose Review’. The goal of the Rose Review was to tap the huge unrealised economic potential of women entrepreneurs by making the UK one of the best countries in the world for women to start and grow a new business.
The University of Bristol’s Growth Support Programme was born off the back of the Rose Review with the aim of diversifying future founders’ identity, gender and business ideas. It pairs applicants with tailored mentors and provides support in the form of specialist workshops and events. It also grants access to Setsquared’s Advisers in Residence, who can help provide a suite of invaluable advice. The Award-winning programme is open to final-year undergraduates, postgraduates and recent graduates.
Off to the roundtable
As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2022, Bristol entrepreneurs and student Da and recent graduate Maya attended the GEW UK 2022 Women Founders Roundtable at Guildhall Winchester. Their aim was to share their perspectives and experiences as female entrepreneurs and debate the ongoing problems that limit entrepreneurial support, and prevent it from being fully inclusive and equitable in the UK. With a lively audience of enterprise stakeholders from different higher education institutions across the UK and a diverse and interesting panel, this was an event that aimed to empower enterprising women in a 21st-century world designed to favour men.
At the roundtable, Da and Maya debated with student champions from other SETSquared universities, discussing the barriers faced by women entrepreneurs. Together, they helped propose initiatives that could be implemented to help tackle these issues.
For example, why do men take up space whereas women speak for shorter amounts of time? How do you manage mental health? Furthermore, what language and representation do you seek? Have you ever felt like you have had to apologise? How do you tackle failure? What about power struggles in a room full of men? What can years of socialisation tell us about how women entrepreneurs act?
Encouraging positive change
The answers weren’t clear-cut, and the discussion left everyone with a lot to think about. An interesting question-and-answer session followed. We ended the evening with an amazing networking event where the issues and initiatives highlighted by the roundtable were discussed in further depth.
We hope that this discussion has helped contribute towards a better understanding of the dilemmas presented in the Rose Review and the barriers which hold UK women back from starting or scaling businesses. We’d like to thank the University of Southampton and the University of Winchester for inviting us and facilitating the roundtable discussion. The Basecamp Enterprise Team are committed to encouraging positive change in enterprise support for women here at the University of Bristol.
About our ambassadors
Maya Raichoora is a recent Innovation graduate and Co-Founder of Remap. Remap are on a mission to help others take control of their mental, physical, and emotional well-being, delivering immersive visualisation experiences.
Da Young Kim is a maths and philosophy student and currently works as an extended member of the Basecamp Enterprise Team as Basecamp Enterprise Ambassador. Her own tech start-up, which is currently taking shape with support from Basecamp’s Ideation fund, aims to change the education system.
Applications for the Growth Support programme close Sunday 26 February. Find out more and apply on mycareer.