May's mentors

Date: 2:47pm, 04 Nov 2011

Home Secretary Theresa May announced funding for a mentoring scheme and a Women's Business Council today. The announcement comes after leaked reports that the Conservative Party is losing support among women, after a women in business summit at Number 10 a few weeks ago and ahead of a protest organised by The Fawcett Society, which argues that women have been unfairly hit by the public sector and benefits cuts.

The timing can be no coincidence. The audience of invited women entrepreneurs and others seemed mainly to greet the news enthusiastically, which more than anything perhaps suggests that there has not been much support in the past. Perhaps it is to be expected that support for entrepreneurialism should come from the Conservative Party.

Under the scheme, there will be 5,000 volunteer mentors for women entrepreneurs. There did not seem to be very much flesh on the bones of how this will work. One audience member spoke about how her university runs a mentoring programme for women and May said it would be good to talk to her about taking part. When asked several women put up their hands to say they would welcome being mentors and May suggested they should sign up with her adviser.

Mentoring seems to be very much the fashion at the moment and a volunteer programme can't be too expensive, but mentoring can mean very different things to different people. Some mentors have very little direct contact with their mentee, for instance. Much of it is passive. What will be interesting to see over the next few months is what the programme actually involves.

The Business Council idea was also greeted with keen interest, but again it will be interesting to see what it actually does and what its structure is. It is all too easy for Governments who are keen to attract votes from a certain sector of the community to set up a quango or launch a consultation exercise to give the impression they are listening.

Perhaps I am just too cynical and, of course, any help is welcome, as was Theresa May's actual speech which was very clear on her support for flexible working as the way forward for business.

Questions from the floor tended to revolve around the idea that confidence is a key barrier to women setting up their own businesses, which is true. But sometimes I think this could come across as women being poor, delicate petals who just don't believe in themselves.

As someone who is self-employed, I think so many of the problems facing working mums are interlinked. It is hard to distinguish, for instance, childcare and confidence because anyone who tries working with children knows that it is hard to keep on going when you are trying to work with a toddler running around because you can't afford "wraparound" childcare. The stress levels are enormous and you feel like you are rolling a very heavy ball uphill every day. Similarly, try feeling buoyant after you have faced two weeks of the vomit virus circulating around your entire family, followed by an inset day and a series of nativity plays for which you have had to make costumes.

If you have a good job then it seems a bit risky, if you also have a family doubly so, to throw in the towel and set up on your own for what will probably be much less pay for at least the first few years. How do you afford it? Experts suggest doing it on the side of a part-time job, but if you are a mum you may have a part-time job plus the mum job which equals more than a full-time job. It is possible, though, if exhausting.

The main target market for new entrepreneurs must be unemployed mums who can't find a job which gives them the work/life balance they need. You can do this around children - especially school-aged children. Doing it around babies or toddlers without childcare [which you won't get any subsidy for in the early years because you are self-employed] is hard, though. It very much depends on how much your child sleeps, which is sometimes not entirely predictable. Those who do well in this scenario are women with parents or other family members who can help out with free childcare. It's all a bit haphazard though, but anyone who sticks the course has got to have developed outstanding management skills. What is clear is that, despite the difficulties, the number of women entrepreneurs is rising - particularly of working mum entrepreneurs - because starting your own business gives you the freedom to balance your life better. Employers should perhaps take note as yesterday's employee may be tomorrow's competition.

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