Lancashire business aims to help women around the UK access mentoring

A Lancashire based social enterprise that aims to inspire female entrepreneurs has received free support and £5,000 in funding to help it develop an innovative new website.

Role aims to give female managers the confidence needed to climb the career ladder by offering mentoring services, both face to face and online.

Role will use a digital, online platform to signpost girls as young as 13 to mentoring organisations to start them on their enterprise journey. As the service is available nationwide and aims to work with a large number of clients, a sophisticated website is needed to effectively link entrepreneurs to nearby mentors.

Role business owner Wendy Bowers received free support to develop the online system through a Boost Business Lancashire programme, delivered by Regenerate Pennine Lancashire. Boost is the £7.2m Lancashire Growth Hub supported by the European Regional Development Fund.

A business advisor from Regenerate worked with Wendy to ensure that proposed website specifications met the needs of the business and assisted in finding a suitable developer. A £5,000 grant was also granted to partially pay for the new online system.

Wendy Bowers said: “The support and finance that I’ve received to develop the online system has really helped move the project forward. We are due to launch the system soon, which is an essential part of our business plan. It will help us in our aim to provide a role model for every woman in the UK that wants one – from their teenage years to retirement”.

“The website will match female managers to their own ambassador, someone who has already made the journey to the highest level in their industry. Role will connect thousands of women across the UK who are determined to support each other”.

The free Boost programme, which is called Growth Sectors Support, helps businesses achieve their potential to grow and create jobs within the creative and digital, environmental, advanced manufacturing, aerospace and finance sectors. Its business advisors work directly with organisations to help develop new IT systems, enhance working methods, develop new products and improve processes. Non repayable growth finance is available for eligible businesses, to contribute towards the full cost of a project.