£10 million of funding has been established which will finance loans, training and mentoring for aspiring female entrepreneurs.

Networking community Enterprising Women is giving its members the chance to apply loans of up to £30,000 from the fund, which has been set up in partnership with Lloyds TSB with the aim of helping women make the most of their business ideas.

“Women often take a more cautious approach towards risk than men,” remarked Bev Hurley, who is the chief executive officer of Enterprising Women. She also said, “Another challenge faced by both male and female entrepreneurs is formulating a realistic business plan.”

Hurley says: ‘Many entrepreneurs … still don’t robustly test and validate their business plan against … commercial reality. Lack of knowledge about the challenges, costs and timescales of getting customer revenues can lead to struggling and unsustainable businesses.’

A spokesperson for the UK government-backed Women’s Business Development Agency said: “encouraging women to found their own firms is vitally important for the economy.”

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