How you can mix business with parenting

Nov 5 2008 by Karen Dent, The Journal

PARENTS and carers are being targeted in a £1m effort to persuade them to start their own businesses.

The campaign aims to highlight the benefits of running a business to young mums or those who have caring responsibilities and need to manage their working life around their other commitments.

The investment, from One North East and the European Regional Development Fund, will pay for a series of Flexible Families workshops and one-to-one mentoring projects in accessible places such as Sure Start and community centres, nurseries and toddler groups.

Help will be provided to develop people’s business ideas, find sources of support and link them up with other people in a similar situation.

Crucially, it aims to make people look at how enterprise can work for them, leading to a decent income while allowing them to continue their caring duties.

ONE hopes the programme will give it inroads to some of the people who are least likely to become entrepreneurs and help it achieve the Regional Economic Strategy’s target of creating 22,000 new businesses by 2016.

They say: “Research shows that people in deprived areas are among those least likely to pursue a career in enterprise and we know that family commitments can be a barrier for would-be entrepreneurs.

“The idea of starting a business can seem overwhelming, with lots of concerns and questions – but in fact, there are many parents with young children in this region who are proving that enterprise can really work.

“This project will enable people to see whether enterprise could suit their lives and needs, and to convert ideas into trading businesses.”

Research has shown that people who receive enterprise support are 50% more likely to take the plunge and start a business , and they are likely to do so more quickly if they work with friends or associates on their idea. Lisa Aynsley started AM Associates, a Newcastle-based recruitment firm, when her daughter Lexy was just 10 months old.

She said: “I can work around Lexy’s needs and her childcare, and I get to spend more quality time with her every week. With clever diary management, I can even manage to take her to swimming lessons.”

The Flexible Families programme is due to start before the end of this year and run until spring 2010.