Female scaleup support service offered by Lancashire Council to help women facing barriers in business

The scale up support service begins in response to county-council report on barriers to women in business. The programme, Women Scaling Up, was launched by Two Zero, Lancashire County Council’s scaleup support service, in response to a landmark report published in August about the barriers faced by women leading businesses in Lancashire. Women Scaling Up includes tailored coaching and peer group sessions designed to build participants’ resilience and leadership skills, along with in-depth business acumen. Those taking part in the programme include business owners and directors from a range of businesses across Lancashire such as professional services, creative industries, and the manufacturing sector.

Kelly-Ann Groves, a chief operating officer at Sundown Solutions, a cloud transformation and IT consultancy based in Accrington, is the only female in the firm’s leadership team. She is taking part in the Women Scaling Up programme.

She said: “To coin the popular phrase ‘imposter syndrome’, sometimes I think ‘am I really the right person for this job? I just need that next level of input and confidence that I hope to gain from Women Scaling Up to become an even stronger businesswoman.”

The 14 participants will receive six months' support, including strategic planning, profiling, boardroom masterclasses on key aspects of scaleup, executive coaching and a resilience retreat.

County Councillor Aidy Riggott, cabinet member for economic development and growth, Lancashire County Council added: “As a county, we must support all types of diversity in our business community. There are so many success stories of female-led businesses in Lancashire but with the right support, the number of women leading Lancashire businesses can grow further.

“The Growing Women, Growing Lancashire report provided a set of recommendations for the whole Lancashire economy to improve the business landscape for our county’s female business leaders. Currently only 20 per cent of businesses in the county are led by a woman."

The programme is two thirds funded by the council through Two Zero – a business support service for scaleup business leaders in Lancashire. its mission is to help Lancashire’s scaleup leaders learn, grow their business 20 per cent and create jobs.