Equality Minister meets one of Surrey's most enterprising women
Government News Network, 9th March 2005

Equality Minister Jacqui Smith recently met Tracey Carr, one of Surrey's most Enterprising Women during a visit to the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). The meeting formed part of a visit dedicated to engaging with female business owners and finding out how women access the support they need.

Tracey's company Eve-olution is one of 165,000 female owned businesses in the region. Latest figures also suggest that, if women matched the number of male business start ups there would be an additional 25,000 firms in the region. Women and Equality Minister Jacqui Smith said:

"Female entrepreneurs like Tracey are the role models for the entrepreneurs of the future. They've made their mark across the South East helping generate between £50 and £70 billion a year for the UK economy.

"Tracey has made it, but I'd like to see more women from the South East follow in her footsteps. The figures show there's still a vast amount of untapped potential in the region, but help is needed for women to overcome barriers to setting up their own business.

"I want to see greater access to finance, more appropriate business support, help in increasing women' s confidence and self esteem, and more role models."

Reflecting on her morning with the Minister, Tracey Carr, CEO from Surrey based Executive mentoring company Eve-olution said:

"I think that creating networking and mentoring opportunities for women in Surrey is an excellent way for the region to achieve its objectives in increasing female entrepreneurs. Eve-olution's research in this area confirms that women in business feel isolated. Our survey 'Women Leaders Speak Out' 2005 had over 900 responses and 9 out of 10 women agreed that having a female role model is important for career success."

Note to Editors:

1. Equality Minister Jacqui Smith visited SEEDA as part of the Government's drive to boost the number of female owned small businesses in the UK to 20 per cent by 2006. Figures from the Office of National Statistics Labour Force Survey 2003 show there are over 600,000 women owned businesses in the UK generating between £50 and £70 billion for the UK economy.

2. Tracey Carr is internationally known for her work in leadership development and the advancement of women in business. She is an after speaker, writer and coach, both in the UK and abroad. Tracey's aim is for Eve-olution to be the Diversity consultancy of choice for the FTSE 500 companies and public sector bodies.

3. Business start-ups are recognised as key to employment and productive growth in the regions. Overcoming barriers such as finance, childcare and other caring responsibilities are among some of the main reasons women give for not starting up. The Government's Women's Enterprise Strategic Framework published last year tackles these issues and aims to change cultural and social attitudes to women in business.

4. Figures from the Office of National Statistics for Autumn 2004 show that the number of self employed females was 165,000, a rise of 11,000 from the Winter 2003 figure of 154,000. The figures also show that if women matched men on business start ups there would be 25,000 start-ups in the South East, and if UK female business ownership matched that of the USA, the South East would have an additional 127,000 businesses.

External Links

Government News Network
Department of Trade and Industry
South East England Development Agency

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