In February 2007, Margaret Hodge MP (Minister for Industry and the Regions) announced that she wanted to recruit a 1,000 strong network of inspirational women to help and inspire more women to set up their own businesses.
Each Regional Development Agency has been tasked with the recruitment of 100 ambassadors in their region to reach the target of 1,000 network members. Enterprise Insight is managing this network at the national level and will be collating details of Ambassadors from all regions into a national database.
Ambassadors will be people already inspiring women to start businesses. They will already be talking to people about enterprise, writing articles in local newspapers about their experiences, talking to young people in schools, setting up peer support networks, mentoring others in business, providing training programmes for female entrepreneurs or potential female entrepreneurs.
They could be male or female (men are often cited as the role model who helped a woman to go into business), they may own their own business, they may run a successful organisation, they may be community development workers, or they may advise women on starting or growing a businessÖultimately, they will be passionate about helping women achieve their potential through self employment.
National benefits for ambassadors will include:
Regional benefits will include: