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Women In Business
The next year is going to be make or break for many small enterprises, so what determines whether a business ends the year in profit or sinks into debt?
In a special series across 2011, Woman's Hour will be following the fortunes of three women who are determined to develop and expand their companies - despite the challenging economic climate. The three businesses came about in very different ways and have to tackle a range of problems if they are to come out on top over the next twelve months.
Recent Discussions
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12 March 2012 Women in Business programme from Liverpool
A panel of successful businesswomen were on hand to answer questions from female entrepreneurs.
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8 Feb 2012 Entrepreneurs & Mentors
A round up of the progress of the three female entrepreneurs and mentors that Woman's Hour has been following.
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10 January 2012 Starting up your own business from a market stall
Former market stall holders Melissa Morgan and Kerry Seager discuss explain why starting out on a market stall is a good way to grow your business.
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2 January 2012 Women in Business
Discussion of issues facing entrepreneurs and how to tackle them.
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12 December 2011 Dame Mary Perkins
Specsavers founder Dame Mary Perkins on building a family business from nothing and turning it into a global empire with an annual turnover of over one million pounds.
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8 December 2011 Setting up a business as a disabled person
Penny Roberts talks about the challenges faced by disabled entrepreneurs, along with Jane Jutsum from the charity, Leonard Cheshire Disability.
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1 December 2011 Job Sharing - Can it work at Senior Level?
Sara Hill, MD of Capability Jane which specialises in senior executive flexible working, former job sharer Joan Claridge and Dr Suzy Walton who sits on around ten boards and government committees.
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18 November 2011 How easy is it to make the transition to the private sector?
How easy is it to jump ship from the public sector and work in private businesses? Marilyn Davidson and Liz Marsden discuss
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16 November 2011 The importance of making a business plan
The importance of an up-to-date business plan with Jane Khedair, MD of Business Plan Services and Linda Torstensson co-founder of Kozi Kidz outdoor clothing company.
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10 November 2011 Work/Life Balance
Jane is joined by Juliette Joffe, co-founder of the Giraffe restaurant chain, and Julie Hall from womenunlimited to discuss.
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13 November 2011 Business Startups
To address criticism that some women are creating businesses in so called "softer" areas rather than focus on manufacturing, Jane is joined by business women Margaret Wood and Louise Duerr.
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08 November 2011 Giving someone the sack - how do you do it legally?
How do employers let people go legally? What rights do employees have? Discussion with Bev Hurley of Enterprising Women, and Jo Davis, Partner and Head of Employment at BP Collins LLP.
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06 October 2011 Choosing the right business
To address criticism that some women are creating businesses in so called "softer" areas rather than focus on manufacturing, Jane talks to business women Margaret Wood and Louise Duerr.
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12 September 2011 Starting a business later in life
What are the challenges for women becoming entrepreneurs later in life? Jane talks to Christine Brown and Dr Dianne Bown-Wilson from Cranfield School of Management.
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10 August 2011 Angry at work
How to cope with an angry boss or angry employees with Ruth Badger and Vanessa Robinson at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
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26 July 2011 Language in the boardroom
Dr Judith Baxter and business woman Elaine Owen discuss whether women's use of language in the boardroom is holding them back. .
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05 July 2011 Exporting Overseas
How to develop an overseas market for your business. Jane talks to Mylene Klass about how she's adapted a baby clothing range for export, and Lesley Batchelor, Director General of the Institute of Export.
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17 June 2011 Flexible Working
How flexible can small businesses afford to be? And does their size limit their flexibility? Alexander Ehmann, Head of Parliamentary and Regulatory Affairs at the Institute of Directors discusses the issues.
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14 June 2011 Social Enterprise
What is a social enterprise, and why are women more likely to run one? Rebecca Harding of Delta Economics and Sophi Tranchell of Divine Chocolate explain some of the facts and myths about this kind of business.
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19 May 2011 Leadership Style
Is it possible to run your business by consensus, or if you want to be a successful entrepreneur are there some decisions you just have to take on your own? Penny de Valk of the Institute of Leadership and Management, and young entrepreneur, Rachel Bryan, discuss.
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10 May 2011 The art of a good presentation
Apprentice runner up Ruth Badger and Laura Tenison, founder and MD of JoJo Maman Bebe discuss what makes a good presentation.
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02 May 2011 Franchising
The numbers of women who have taken the franchise route into self-employment has increased and now just under one third of franchisees are women.
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28 April 2011 Using advertising
Nicola Mendelsohn from the creative agency Karmarama discusses the role of advertising in developing a successful company.
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12 April 2011 Business disasters
How to make the best of a business disaster with Green Shoes' Alison Hastie, the Chartered Management Institute's Louise Brooker-Carey and Business Change Consultant Jennifer Parratt.
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1 April 2011 Can you teach business nous?
Having a 'real head for business' - is it instinctive, or can business savvy actually be taught? Carol Savage who has headed up marketing for leading brands and Michelle Mone discuss.
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31 March 2011 Marketing
We discuss how, once you've come up with a brilliant idea, how you make your product or service stand out from the crowd.
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15 March 2011 Delegating to others
The necessity of delegating and trusting others with Laura Tenison, Managing Director of JoJo Maman Bébé, and Helen Culshaw, Director of Ascendancy Internet Marketing.
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9 March 2011 Networking
How can you learn to network? Karen Gill, one of the founders of Everywoman – an online networking organisation and Dawn Gibbins an entrepreneur, Secret Millionaire and founder of The Barefoot Foundation discuss.
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24 February 2011 Selling your business
Creative Director of Acumen Sales Coaching Rae Stephenson, gives some tips on selling yourself and your business, to Katja Seaton, founder of Katja's Kupcakes.
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15 February 2011 Taking risks in business
There are statistics that show women are more risk averse than men in the business world. Jane talks to leadership psychologist Avril Leeman about female entrepreneur's attitude to risk.
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10 February 2011 Women in Business Phone In
What have been the highs and lows of running your own business. How are you coping during the challenging economic climate? What skills do you think you need to be a successful entrepreneur? Jenni hears your stories on our special phone-in.
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9 February 2011 Women in Business 2011 Launch
The launch of Woman's Hour Women in Business series which will be following the fortunes of three women who are determined to develop and expand their companies - despite the challenging economic climate.
Each month Woman's Hour will visit one of the businesses and get first hand accounts on what it's really like to run a company - at a time when finance is hard to raise and customers are thinking twice about what they spend.
The Business Women
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Tanya Ewing
It was Tanya Ewing's exasperation over a gas bill that spurred her into inventing a completely new type of energy monitor and creating a company to promote it - work that earned her the accolade of 'British Female Inventor of 2008'. This year she intends to sell the monitor on a big scale to get a return on the hundreds of thousands of pounds she has raised to create and manufacture it.
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Jo Patemen
Jo Pateman originally set up her pond cleaning business to support her struggling garden centre. For three years she regularly worked seven days a week to keep both going, finally closing the shop in 2009 to focus on ponds. This year Jo will recruit two more members of staff to add to her team of six. But to keep everyone gainfully employed, she must get more work from the corporate world - companies with ponds or lakes that require attention all the year round.
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Daniella Genas
Daniella Genas' flair for organising events was obvious at the age of seventeen when she co-ordinated a family fun day for eight hundred people in Nottingham. This talent is the basis of her community interest company, where the profits she makes from event management are ploughed back into training schemes for 17-25 year olds. Daniella knows that this will be a difficult year: she must find new sources of income quickly as companies scale back on events and training grants are cut.
The Mentors
To help each of these businesses through the next twelve months, Woman's Hour has matched them with three mentors. These are leading business women who can draw on their own successful careers to offer support and suggestions when the going gets particularly tough.
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Nora Senior, Tanya Ewing's mentor is an Executive Chair within a global PR company and also has experience of setting up her own public relations business.
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Nikki King, Jo Patemen's mentor, is one of a handful of women in the UK to occupy a top job in the logistics industry.
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Gita Patel, Daniella Genas' mentor, is a pioneer in the world of venture capital, setting up the UK's first fund to target women focused businesses.
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