Late last year www.womensbusinessweb.co.uk conducted a survey to solicit women’s views on a variety of issues ranging from lifestyle to buying preferences.  We also asked some questions specific to the needs of women in business. The results were interesting but in a sense a bit contrarian. For example from our perspective it wasn’t in the least surprising that our respondents stated that many professional and lifestyle services they use are not very female friendly. For example, one in three women … Read more…

Women’sBusinessWeb launches inaugural survey Women’sBusinessWeb www.womensbusinessweb.co.uk has today launched a survey to gather information into women’s attitudes and insights. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WWXMD23 The survey aims to reach out to all women, with particular emphasis on women consumers and women providers of professional (legal, financial etc) and lifestyle (carers, photographers etc) services. Whilst in the USA there is a wealth of research  information  available about ‘what women want’  this is much less so in the UK. At Women’sBusinessWeb we recently advocated participation in the … Read more…

Excuse the heading. I have just bought a second hand Mini and really wanted to write ‘It’s a mini adventure’ but poetic licence would not stretch that far! I came across the term Micro Business the other evening watching TV and probably due to a sheltered Corporate upbringing I have to say that I had not heard the term before. I have now found out that there is even an All Party Group for Micro Businesses! The EU defines a … Read more…

 I saw the speech the other day by Theresa May about helping women businesses. Not sure what others feel, and you have to applaud the sentiment, but like so many things politicians say I felt it was lacking detail. Who are these 5000 mentors, where are they from, what skills do they have and what are they going to do?  (Are they some of the illegal immigrants who sneaked through relaxed border controls Theresa?) The Government is setting up a … Read more…

I was amused to hear that the 300 year old Law of Royal Succession was about to be changed to allow the first born child of William and Kate to become the next in line for the Throne irrespective of the child being female. Given its now the 21st Century and over 80 years since universal suffrage this does not seem unreasonable!  Whilst I am not a monarchist at heart and listen to debates about all things Royal with some … Read more…

Whenever I engage with senior executives or public figures about women in business the discussion  invariably heads down the same  path…. the lack of women on FTSE Companies Boards and the universally acknowledged need to rectify this situation. Frankly it’s bizarre this discussion is still on-going and so little progress has been made when all the evidence suggests that Companies are the richer for having women in Board roles.  But is this issue, important though it is ,the only key … Read more…

Much of the research we have drawn on at www.womensbusinessweb.co.uk  is based on a study carried out by the Boston Consulting Group a few years ago. They are now in the process of doing a new survey and if you would like to participate and get a view of their early findings then go to www.womenspeakworldwide.com. We will update you on the final survey when it is published.

I listened to the news today about the worrying growth in unemployment in the UK, the highest for some 17 years. In particular they highlighted the plight of young people and women. As we know many women work either part time or in the public sector (or indeed both I guess) and these jobs are being particularly hard hit. So all the more frustrating that the number of women entrepreneurs, whilst growing, is still way below its potential.  A recent … Read more…

According to Boston consulting Group there are six female archetypes. See if you can relate to them personally or in the context of your clients. Fast Tracker: this is a high driven perfectionist who wants everything she can get from life Relationship Focussed: a woman living with a romantic partner (if only!) and spends most of their free time with them Managing Her Own: a divorced professional who likes her independence but hopes to marry again sometime Pressure Cooker: a … Read more…

Sadly the UK is way behind the US in analysing the female economy. That’s one of the things we hope to address shortly. In the meantime I thought I would share some statistics with you that I have come across whilst researching  material that is predominantly US centric but probably reflects what is happening in the UK also. My favourite is that the average teenage girl sends or receives some 3,330 text messages per month. On a more serious note … Read more…