Students 4cast Business Success with Forward Ladies
12/02/2009
Four students from Gateways School, Leeds, who are participating in the LEAP Programme, recently attended workshops organised by Forward Ladies, the North’s fastest growing women’s networking group.
The workshops, set up in association with Business Link were held at The Village Hotel, Leeds and were all aimed at helping women to develop themselves and their businesses.
As part of the LEAP programme, the Gateways School students have set up a company called 4cast and have commissioned some high-quality automatic umbrellas that incorporate their own designs. LEAP is a registered charity that enables students to set up their own companies for a school year, learning business skills, teamwork and problem solving, and gaining confidence.
The students have already picked up an award for best trade stand at a pre-Christmas fair in the Merrion Centre. They used the Forward Ladies workshops as an opportunity to showcase their products to the business women who attended.
Forward Ladies, which is supported by Yorkshire Forward as part of its commitment to encouraging greater levels of female entrepreneurship in the region, now has over 3500 women on its database.
Etta Cohen, managing director of Forward Ladies said: “It is vitally important that we encourage the younger generation and that despite the current challenging economic climate, we provide our members with the support they need to succeed and achieve their goals and aspirations.”
Alex McWhirter, Assistant Director of Enterprise at Yorkshire Forward comments "It is great to see existing female entrepreneurs and the business talent of tomorrow both benefiting from the support that Forward Ladies offers in the region. If we nurture the talents of all our enterprising individuals, our regional economy will to continue to prosper and provide us with the platform to develop our people and businesses in the future".
Over 90 business women attended the workshops, including Camilla Veale, who runs her own HR Consultancy based in Leeds. She said: “I found the workshops extremely useful and it allowed me to get back into networking. I am so glad I have joined Forward Ladies as it is going to ensure that I manage my business through the recession.”