Mercia Asset Management – one of the UK’s most active SME finance providers – has launched a new resilience programme offering practical support to ambitious women founders.
The programme will specifically target women entrepreneurs who find getting access to growth capital challenging and will offer support and training to help them scale their companies.
Mercia plans to deliver fully-funded training to 80 female entrepreneurs through a series of four half-day workshops, with the first taking place in Birmingham on 26 September and followed by events in Manchester, Leeds and London.
Rise & Thrive: Navigating Investment as Women Entrepreneurs will cover topics including understanding and working with bias, navigating and optimising the investment framework, breaking down the fear of failure and imposter syndrome, and accessing and using networks and mentors.
The workshops are being offered as part of Mercia’s commitment to responsible investing and will be delivered in partnership with Janet Grant of The Better People. Janet started her career as a chartered accountant with Ernst & Young and worked in senior finance roles for leading businesses including Woolworths and WH Smith as well as a consultant FD. She now provides leadership coaching, resilience and well-being and behavioural profiling.
Janet explains: “Competing in a growing or challenging business environment can feel daunting but it is often our own confidence and self-doubt that holds us back. I see the dramatic difference that good leadership and resilience support can make so would encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity. Using a quote from Henry Ford, ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right’.”
Angela Warner, Managing Director – Mercia Investments, commented: “Mercia is passionate about finding and supporting scalable growth companies across the UK. However, we are acutely aware that woman entrepreneurs, for many reasons, often fail to access the capital they need to take their businesses to the next level. We hope that by working with Janet and The Better People we can offer practical support and instil confidence in a new network of talented founders to take that next step on the funding ladder.”
The first workshop will take place in Birmingham on 26th September at 45 Church Street, Birmingham, B3 2RT, and is specifically designed for founders or senior leaders of scaleup businesses who can apply directly by contacting responsibleinvestment@mercia.co.uk. Places will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis. The same course will also be offered in Manchester (November), Leeds (January) and London (March).