- Women-owned businesses access less than 3% of all procurement opportunities in the UK

- First annual 'Get Connected' conference, 31st October 2008


WEConnect (Women in Enterprise Connecting to Contracts) is a new government backed initiative aimed at connecting women with multinational corporations.

WEConnect works to break down the barriers faced by women-owned businesses in securing corporate contracts. Although 16% of UK businesses are women owned, less than 3% of corporate and public sector contracts go to women business enterprises* (WBEs**).

Sue Lawton, Director of Development for WEConnect, comments: "An increasing number of women are turning to entrepreneurship as a way to fulfil their ambitions and create a new kind of workplace. However, many female entrepreneurs break out on their own only to face huge challenges in gaining fair access to procurement contracts."

WEConnect aims to put WBEs in touch with key procurement contacts in the corporate sector, providing supplier diversity and giving large corporates the confidence to purchase from women-owned businesses which have achieved the WEConnect certification.

Based on a successful US prototype the scheme has already signed up a range of major business names as corporate supporters; Citi, Accenture, Goldman Sachs, Hewlett Packard, Pfizer, Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Ltd, Cisco, JP Morgan, Marriott, New Technology Steel, Microsoft, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Mastercard UK.

WEConnect are holding their first annual 'Get Connected' Conference on Friday 31st October, hosted at the Merrill Lynch Financial Centre, central London. The conference is aimed at both procurement leads and women business owners.

Delegates will hear from UK and US multinational corporations about how their procurement process works, including Glenda Stone, CEO of Aurora and co-chair of the 'Women's Enterprise Task Force'. There is also the opportunity to hear from women who have gone through the certification process, connect with regional and national policy makers and find out how government is backing WEConnect as a key part of its new Enterprise Strategy***.

*The Annual Survey of Small Business' Opinion, BERR, February 2008.

**A Women Business Enterprise (WBE) is an independent business that is at least 51% owned and controlled by one or more women, once certified WEConnect can support businesses to access contracts with UK-based multinational organisations.

***Enterprise: Unlocking the UK's talent was launched on March 12 by the department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR).