The Centre for Women's Enterprise (CWE) at the University of Bedfordshire has reached the final of the Lloyds TSB 'Innovator Award' category of the 2007 Prowess Awards.

The prestigious national awards recognise those giving a helping hand to women in business, through mentoring, business support, advocacy and inspiration. The glittering awards ceremony will be held at the Prowess Annual Conference in Brighton, on Wednesday 7 February.

The University’s women’s enterprise project was set up 18 months ago with European funding and has become a permanent part of the University’s Business School, giving women in the East of England a powerful tool to help their businesses grow.

The award judges, who include some of the UK's leading business women, were particularly impressed by the overwhelming impact the programme is having on the participants lives and their businesses.

Head of the Centre Dawn Jordan (photo) said: “We are delighted to have reached the final of the highly regarded Prowess Awards. The CWE has made a strong impact in the region, assisting more than 350 women with their business ventures, building a supportive community, and making a real difference to women’s lives.

“We have had some great feedback on the positive difference the Centre is making, with women growing successful businesses, gaining confidence, getting clearer about what they want out of life, valuing themselves and their services more highly, and the hugely positive knock-on effect for their families, businesses and communities.”

The Centre was born out of the University’s commitment to equal opportunities, lifelong learning and widening participation. The overall aim was to support women who wished to start or grow small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), and provide management development for women.

The project has achieved all of its targets, and made a positive impact to the region. These include:

• Gaining national recognition as a Centre for Women’s Enterprise
  
• Building a proactive, supportive, friendly, business-oriented community of more than 400 women
  
• Launching the UK's first women-only Masters in Business Administration (MBA) for women business owners and women employed in SMEs, with 37 per cent of those on the course coming from black and minority ethnic communities
  
• Establishing credibility as a women's entrepreneurship research unit and conducting four research studies which have been presented at international research conferences
  
• Building collaborative relationships and partnerships with other business support providers in the region, and winning a portion of EEDA’s £1.15 million funding that launched the Enterprising Women project of which the CWE is one of seven partners.

This year the CWE will be conducting some ground-breaking research into how women build and utilise their social capital. It is also offering business growth workshops, which are free to self-employed women in the region, funded by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).

To find out more about the CWE call 01582 743 931 or visit www.beds.ac.uk/women