London Mumpreneurs

Anna and Philippa took to the floor last week to speak about how they set up Micro Scooters Ltd at a conference especially for mothers who run or who want to run their own businesses. Read on for a taste of what the event was about and how it went....it was a relief to know that we inspired some other mums rather than putting them off and also to know that despite our lack of public speaking experience it seemed to go down quite well. We were inspired to hear the stories of the other mums who run their own businesses...

London Mumpreneurs Inspired to Reach for the Sky in 2010 –
Gender Barriers will start to close for Women Entrepreneurs

Demand for networking events for female entrepreneurs is growing after the first London Mumpreneurs’ conference last week was sold out -
New dates for 2010 now confirmed

London, UK – 10th March, 2010 – The first London Mumpreneurs’ conference entitled ‘Reaching for the sky … from humble beginnings’ held on 4th March 2010. It was hosted by London Mums and Eddie Catz and was packed with 80 energetic mumpreneurs networking and discussing challenges and useful tips when creating and running a business. They were inspired by phenomenal speakers including former presenter of BBC show ‘Something for the weekend’ and mumpreneur Amanda Hamilton, founder and managing director of JoJo Maman Bébé Laura Tenison, Co-Founders and Joint Directors of Micro Scooters Ltd Anna Gibson and Philippa Gogarty, celebrity entertainer Amanda Frolich, catering guru Kumud Gandhi, and moderator and author Penny Avis.

London Mumpreneurs left the event with a positive outlook for 2010 inspired by stories from the speakers and their peers who have made it. 13% of businesses in the UK are currently women-led. The fact that mumpreneurs in the start-up and SME sector are making noticeable inroads to gender barriers has been confirmed by a new UK poll of over 1,000 women entrepreneurs from a Business Link study published on 5th March. 20% of women entrepreneurs feel they have to work harder than men to prove themselves in the business world; a significant improvement from this time last year, when a similar poll showed 38% felt they had to work harder.

Some of the topics discussed at the Mumpreneurs’ event were achieving a sensible relating to work-life in-balance, how to find a mentor, time management and childcare issues, which are often seen as business obstacles to setting up on your own. Lessons learnt from the speakers were focused on resolving the problem to balance a business and a family:
1) ‘Begin with the end in mind’ (Amanda Hamilton)
2) ‘The Internet has levelled the marketplace and anybody has the same business opportunities so start-ups can now compete with the big companies.’ (Anna Gibson and Philippa Gogarty)
3) ‘Naivety is great when you start a business because you don’t know what you are going to get into and makes you brave.’ (Laura Tenison)
4) ‘In business always try to look like a swan gliding effortlessly across the water even if underneath the surface your legs are paddling like mad just to stay afloat’ (Penny Avis)
5) ‘Go and talk to someone who already runs your type of business’ (Laura Tenison)
6) ‘Involve the kids in business depending on their age. Even quite young children can do things such as count and roll coins. If you work at home and your child is old enough, you might have him or her actually work in your business by doing basic office work such as filing.’ (Monica Costa)
7) ‘Make networking with mumpreneurs facing the same challenges one of your top priorities’ (Maria Johnson, founder of Eddie Catz)
8) ‘You don’t get if you don’t ask’ (Amanda Hamilton).