The Festival of Female Entrepreneurs (FFE), set up by entrepreneur Joni Farthing, has carved a reputation for delivering inspiring speakers, energising advice and enthusiastic networking aimed at helping women as they seek to take their business to the next level.
‘Spend a day working ‘on’ your business not ‘in’ it!’
Being held in October this year, the event will be run by small business network Enterprise Nation to expand its reach and offers you the chance to ‘Spend a day working ‘on’ your business not ‘in’ it!’
Number of ‘homepreneurs’ increasing
Emma Jones, founder of Enterprise Nation, says about the rise of female entrepreneurs: “The tide is turning in the small business world.” She’s supported in this claim by figures from the Office for National Statistics which say that the number of self-employed women has increased by 34% since 2009. By comparison over the past five years the number of self-employed men has risen by just 15%.
Hear from women entrepreneurs: Emma Jones from
Enterprise Nation will be a speaker at the FFE event
Enterprise Nation’s own Home Business Report 2014, found that of the 2.9m ‘homepreneurs’ in the UK, 64 per cent of them were women – equating to around 1.7m women running businesses from home, contributing an estimated £180bn to the British economy alone.
Emma explains: “The day-long Festival of Female Entrepreneurs offers women the chance to learn how they can take on staff, increase trade, access advice and expand into new markets. Entrepreneurs already know they can start a business, what they now need to do is discover new ways to grow that company. And crucially it offers them the confidence and contacts they need to achieve that success.”
Empowering women
Joni Farthing, founder of network Women Outside The Box and small business advertising site Sourceabl.com, will remain closely involved with the festival as it returns for its fourth year on 22 October, 2015 at Bristol’s Colston Hall, appearing as one of its keynote speakers.
“The FFE has been a remarkable success”
Joni said: “The FFE has been a remarkable success, leading the way in offering specific advice to empower women to grow a business and make money – and crucially the connections they need to get to where they want to be.”
Top entrepreneurial speakers
Top speakers already signing up to the 2015 event include tech founders Alex Depledge (Hassle.com) and Julia Elliot Brown (UpperStreet.com), City Superwoman Nicola Horlick from Love Money, franchise entrepreneurs from Turtle Tots and Pyjama Drama plus VC investor, Eileen Burbidge, and Gold medal Olympian-turned crowd-funding entrepreneur, Sarah Gosling OBE.
Last year the event attracted 700 delegates and Enterprise Nation hopes to grow that number as it adds new speakers and sponsors to the schedule.
“Getting involved in this key festival is part of our own expansion plan,” says Emma. “We want to take the experience and expertise Enterprise Nation has developed and honed over ten years to new areas and audiences.” The network plans to spread its reach further across the UK via start-up and growth acceleration programmes and new events.
For more information and to sign up for the festival go to see Enterprise Nation’s Festival of Female Entrepreneurs page. You can follow Enterprise Nation for news on the festival: @e_nation
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And talking of entrepreneurship events, time is running out for you to register to see amazing and innovation creative tech from the West of England region: Venturefest Bristol & Bath.
