European Social Fund in England

Women into rural enterprise

Funded by: Alternative Bidding, Target Group: Women

Region: Government Office Wes Midlands

Project Start Date: 02/01/2003

Project End Date: 31/1/2006

Details of the Project

WIRE is an organisation that is aimed at helping rural women start and maintain their own business or enterprise. WIRE is very active in supporting business start-ups and allows women to benefit from access to expert advice, business mentors and financial packages. One of WIRE's biggest successes has been to negotiate a preferential business banking package for rural women with HSBC - one of the world's largest financial institutions.

WIRE was set up to meet the needs of rural women who found themselves unable to access traditional means of support for their business ideas. In particular as traditional farming began to change and diversification was required to maintain incomes, women were seeking to use their skills to set up enterprises in their own rural communities. WIRE provides rural women with opportunities to network with other women, provides web and telephone support and their network officers can offer advice and signposting to training.

WIRE is funded by the women themselves and receives funding from ESF and EQUAL. WIRE work with Staffordshire Moorlands and now has a presence in Yorkshire and the South West.

WE HAVE A SELECTION OF INDIVIDUALS STORIES WHICH HIGHTLIGHT HOW THE PROJECT HAS HELPED THE WOMEN.

Key Achievements

A Worcestershire woman is finding success after setting up her own business that is helping protect an endangered species.

Beth Williams set up Turtle Bags, an ethical company based in Hereford. This is just one of the hundreds of businesses which received support from the WIRE project - Women in Rural Enterprise which receives funding from ESF and EQUAL. Turtle Bags aims to raise awareness of the plight of the leatherback turtle, which often confuses plastic bags for jellyfish, its main source of food.

The company sells alternative bags, made from cotton and jute, bought and produced from ethical sources. The business has received backing from the World Wildlife Fund and, after being featured in the magazine Woman's Own, has seen the number of hits on her website increase massively.

Williams said: "I had a bit of a bee in my bonnet and I thought, 'Why not do something practical?' My objective is to raise awareness about turtle conservation and plastic bags at sea because it is such a problem."

WIRE is based at Harper Adams University College and is aimed at helping rural women start and maintain their own business or enterprise. WIRE is very active in supporting business start-ups and allows women to benefit from access to expert advice, business mentors and financial packages.

For further information contact:

Julie Edwards

Staffordshire WIRE Network Officer

Tel: 01952 815399