According to the Department of Trade & Industry, the 130,000 new female entrepreneurs helped generate £130 billion for the UK economy and 26% of self-employed people are women.

“These figures are an encouraging move in the right direction, but there is still a vast wealth of untapped talent and economic opportunity among women in the UK,” said Industry Minister Jacqui Smith, speaking at the PROWESS annual conference.

PROWESS is a UK-wide network that supports the growth of women’s business ownership by raising awareness, backing enterprise support groups and changing the entrepreneurial culture.

As part of its campaign to encourage female entrepreneurs the Government aims to:

• Encourage more role models to come forward (a lack of inspiration is cited as a reason for low numbers of female start-ups)
• Create more access to finance through an Action Plan initiated by the Small Business Service
• Set up a panel of successful businesswomen to examine ways a Women’s Business Council could champion female entrepreneurship
• Launch a regional tour with leading businesswomen to accelerate the Women’s Enterprise Action Plan.

For more information on women starting their own businesses, go to www.prowess.org.uk.