Women Entrepreneurs Network overview
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King’s College London Twenty21 Entrepreneurship Institute Women Entrepreneurs Network overview Brought to you by the Entrepreneurship Institute Jess Horwill @InnovateKings ©2020 King’s College London Jessica.horwill@kcl.ac.uk @KingsEntrepreneurship
"Women do not lack ability or ambition. Yet only 1 in 3 UK entrepreneurs is female: a gender gap equivalent to ~1.1 million missing businesses."
What we set out to achieve… To become the first university accelerator to achieve gender parity
Perceived Barriers
Designed by women, For women
The language is important
What we decided it had to be: • Inclusive • High level (we won’t lower the bar) • Budget friendly • Engaging • Community and skills focused • Representative and intersectional • Have capacity for growth beyond us • Responsive to when we have single gendered space
A network built on…. • Community • Skills • Mentorship • Retreat
Community Peer support and outreach to create a sense of belonging
Skills Workshops and training to upskill our community of women and give them the tools they need to succeed
Mentorship Giving women access to a range of specialists and other women entrepreneurs who can provide support and inspiration
The Retreat A weekend of intensive workshops delivered by a range of experts to provide a detailed level of support to a select group of high potential women led ventures
Community
• Build connections, momentum and spaces to share...
digitally and in person
• Carving out WE network from within the existing EI
community
• Encourage regular contact with your community and
women who have been part of it.
• Subvert linear ideas of success by sharing experiences
of success/failure and focusing on social value
• Harness the impact Covid-19 has had on community
buildingCommunity Recommendations • Make space for your community, it's a business asset • Create a designated space for community to meet and engage- but let micro-communities form • Stay connected with those who pass through your community, a lot of our support comes from women within our community
Annual Retreat • This is our stand out event in pinpointing success of the programme, a key part of achieving KPI. • Make room for a women only space • Accessible- held over a weekend (to avoid other work/uni commitments) held digitally for 2 cycles • 2-3 day conference style event designed to prepare high potential women led ventures for King's 20 • Practical, fast paced and action driven- no space for dithering • Make sure to include value based skills as well as practical business skills • Community driven- Linked In Accountability group for interaction pre & post Retreat • Diverse facilitation • Evergreen content
2021 Retreat Agenda
Annual Retreat Recommendations • Create evergreen content that can be used by all sectors • Make sessions interactive, practical and actionable • This kind of event, especially when digital, can be done high impact on low budget.
Skills • Listen to what your community needs- build backwards from other programmes (Ie King’s 20) • Approach skills in a pragmatic and holistic fashion • 7 Skills of the Entrepreneurial Mindset • Skill sharing & partnerships • Early stage interventions and idea support • Peer to peer support
Key Findings around Confidence • Timing is key • Business first mentality • Productive Procrastination • Helping Men be Better Allies • Confidence Gateways
Getting Started? • Get to know your data (and your community) • Define your end goal and how you'll measure it • Decide on your approach to guide your activities • Collaborate and share!
King’s College London
Entrepreneurship Institute
To hear more about our programme from the
women who are part of our community
check out our video:
Women Entrepreneurs Video
Brought to you by the Entrepreneurship Institute @InnovateKings
©2020 King’s College London @KingsEntrepreneurshipWhat’s next at the EI?
How do we strip back and achieve the same results with a smaller budget/
team?
• Continue The Retreat, women only environments at key gateways
• Integrate with other programmes where there is less of a need for
women only
• Begin – access to capital, Professor of Practice, more support for
intersectionalityENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE
KING’S COLLEGE LONDON
Your Name Here @InnovateKings kingsentrepreneurship
Name.here@kcl.ac.uk @KingsEntrepreneurship KingsEntrepreneurshipUseful data in following slides regarding our stats and in depth cycle content that wasn’t in the presentation
Cycle 1-
Our goal: Building Support and breaking barriers
• Launched Facebook group
• Carving out WE network from within the existing EI community
• Navigating how to build a pipeline
• Building the foundations of an inclusive and intersectional
community reflective of KCL
• First Retreat held at AllbrightCycle 2-
Our goal: Building community and skills
• Facebook group grew to 500 plus members
• Instilled EI values of bootstrapping and idea validation
• Introduced the EI's 7 Skills of Entrepreneurial Mindset
• Switched to digital delivery due to Covid-19
• Forged University partnerships with LSE, Imperial and UCL
• Introduced Launching Your Own Business module for early idea stage
ventures
• Code First Girls partnership offers free tech-based skills sessions
• Second Retreat held digitallyCycle 3-
Our goal: Enabling growth and impact
• Facebook group now has over 850 members
• Held third Retreat digitally- 48 Women and 92% women led workshops
• Extended Code First Girls partnership to include SQL & Web development
sessions
• Ran workshops and focused Retreat on 7 Skills
• Increased focus on sustainability- based on UN's Sustainable Development
Goals
• Digital peer-to-peer sessions heldWhat we achieved.... delivery
What we achieved.... King's 20
What we achieved.... Wider EI Community
Enterprise Award
Idea FactoryENTREPRENEURSHIP INSTITUTE
KING’S COLLEGE LONDON
Your Name Here @InnovateKings kingsentrepreneurship
Name.here@kcl.ac.uk @KingsEntrepreneurship KingsEntrepreneurshipYou can also read
