Aspire to Inspire Programme

WEWN is officially launching a new project ASPIRE TO INSPIRE, the project has been created to inspire and motivate entrepreneurial engagements of migrant women through the creation of role models. The project will nominate and showcase profiles of migrant women in business weekly.

Aims & Objectives

The aim and objective of this incentive is to create a database of role models that will mentor and inspire migrant women that are aspiring to startup in business but facing various challenges. Research indicates that most women particularly from BME and migrant communities require positive female role models to enable them to recognise their own style. Furthermore, studies also state that 89% of women set more ambitious life goals in the presence of women they admire than when they contemplate their goals alone.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial orientation of women has been explored by many scholars and gender gap has been identified as the number between women and men proactively involved in entrepreneurial activities measured through their motivation to venture into business start-up, sector choices, upscaling and growth of businesses. (Minniti,2010).

In a review of entrepreneurial orientation of women in North Africa, the ILO (2016) established that women were more disadvantaged than men because of (1) constraints emanating from lack of necessary human and financial capital, (2) restrictive social norms that commit women to family and home responsibilities, and (3) cultural beliefs that diminish women’s economic roles.

In the UK, the entrepreneurial orientation of ethnic minority communities and immigrant backgrounds has been noted to be double in comparison to white British citizens as cited by a 20-year progressive analysis scale referenced by (Aston University, 2018). The report further adds that, in the past decade, the gap between these two communities has greatly widened in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and the need for these communities to ‘create meaning’ through financially gainful engagements.

Nominated Role Models

Nominated role models on the Aspire to Inspire programme will be paired with an aspiring entrepreneur who has similar experiences of starting up a business that’s similar to their idea. Both participants will have monthly one to one support meetings

The programme will be made available to a wide range of women, regardless of their personal circumstances, level of qualification, geographical position, and access to finance. Central to the initiative is ensuring that there is equity for all tailormade to support the skills and ambitions of the aspiring woman.

Shamiso Machaya, Founder of WEWN, commented, “Failure to connect and engage with role models from our backgrounds makes the business aspirational goals further afield”

WEWN empowers BME migrant women in the North East, providing an opportunity for the women it works with to learn and understand how to start a business and build their powerful and supportive network.

To sign up for the next role model nomination , contact WEWN, through their website www.wewn.co.uk or to explore how you can support WEWN to deliver its support to women across the North East contact shami@wewn.co.uk.