Women's Enterprise and Business Development Lessons from targeted women's programmes in Glasgow

Abstract

This paper contributes to the debate on gender and small business, examining two women's enterprise policies and three initiatives developed in Glasgow in the mid 1990s. Responding to concerns about the low rate of women's business start-up and growth in Glasgow, local authorities and the Local Enterprise Company developed a number of policy recommendations. Subsequent implementation by local business development agencies was piecemeal and small scale, due in part to the pressures from output related funding, and to the funders' priority for businesses with high growth potential. The most significant women's enterprise initiative has been the establishment of the Wellpark Enterprise Centre, providing a targeted range of integrated services for women's business start-up and growth.