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Three Countries Share Strategies to Fuel Women’s
Entrepreneurship
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Project Tsunami organized a landmark Trilateral
Virtual Summit with experts from Canada, the UK
and the US to share strategies and best practices
on women’s entrepreneurship.
The Trilateral took place from April 19 to May 7,
and included an online forum and a video
conference among policymakers, researchers,
women entrepreneurs and NGOs. Tsunami also
organized a Study Tour for 10 British policymakers
and experts who came to Washington DC to learn
about US best practices.
Trilateral partners included the National Women’s
Business Council (NWBC) in the US; the Small
Business Service (SBS), Her Majesty’s Treasury,
and PROWESS in the UK; and contributors to and
the author of the Canadian Prime Minister’s
Parliamentary Task Force Report on Women’s
Entrepreneurship.
“While it may seem to our sisters in
Canada and the UK that women’s
entrepreneurship in the US is far
ahead, you both have us beaten in
that you each now have a document
laying out a road map for what you
want to accomplish. In the US,
progress, while steady, has come
without a grand plan.”
Julie R. Weeks, Executive Director, NWBC
The UK released a Strategic Framework on
Women’s Enterprise on May 8, 2003, and
Canada’s Task Force Report came out on October
29, 2003 (see details in the May and October
2003 issues of Tsunami’s eNewsletter, The Wave).
Spirited online discussions focused on research;
the need for metrics to measure return on
investment in women’s entrepreneurship;
challenges and best practices from each country;
and strategies for effective policymaking, including
the vital role of advocacy. See page 2 of this Wave
for discussions about research, which undergirds
effective policymaking and program development.
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During the Trilateral’s final week, Tsunami
organized a Study Tour tailored to Britain’s needs.
UK experts met with researchers, policymakers,
Women’s Business Centers, experts on finance
and growth, and NGO leaders. The Study Tour and
Trilateral ended with a video conference among
participants from the three countries.
“What we’ve learned in the three
weeks of the Trilateral will
considerably help us to accelerate
British policy and program
development. It was a hugely useful
initiative, and we look forward to
further cooperation and collaboration
with Tsunami, and the continued
sharing of good practice and
experience with our colleagues in the
US and Canada in the future.”
Steve Michell, Head of the UK’s Small Business
Service Women’s Enterprise Unit
The UK Study Tour posed for a group photograph after a
briefing at the National Women’s Business Center in
Washington DC. British organizers included Steve Michell
(top left), delegation head; Jackie Brierton (top right),
consultant on development of the UK’s Strategic
Framework; and Erika Watson (bottom row, second from
left), Executive Director of PROWESS, an umbrella group
for women entrepreneurial organizations in the UK.
Tsunami’s CEO, Virginia Littlejohn, is top row, center.
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“There is a substantial
increase in female
entrepreneurship, largely
in the regions of the UK
where policy initiatives
have been the most
substantial.”
Dr. Rebecca Harding, Senior Fellow in
the Foundation for Entrepreneurial
Management, London Business
School, in the Trilateral online forum
About Tsunami
Project Tsunami, Incorporated
(www.projecttsunami.org), is a non-profit
corporation based in the United States that
is a global accelerator for women’s
entrepreneurship. It was designed to help
create a tidal wave of economic
opportunities in the US and abroad, by
identifying and connecting key women
entrepreneurial leaders, facilitating the
sharing of best practices across countries,
and helping to link effective programs with
resources. It uses 21st Century technology
to make a clearinghouse of resources and
best practices available to its powerful
global network of leaders and multipliers,
who then disseminate this information
widely to their members and stakeholders.
The organization began its work with a
major seed grant from the Ewing Marion
Kauffman Foundation, which funds
innovative programs that foster
entrepreneurship. IBM is a Diamond
Sponsor.
Tsunami is an outgrowth of two major
international conferences on women-owned
small and medium enterprises put on by
the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) in Paris in 1997
and 2000, for which Tsunami’s CEO Virginia
Littlejohn served as Senior Advisor. Project
Tsunami influences policies, practices and
programs that expand the WE sector by
concentrating on 6 core strategies:
1) WE research, data and statistics;
2) Entrepreneurial education and training;
3) Access to finance;
4) Access to networks and to corporate,
government and international markets;
5) Technology as an entrepreneurial
enabler; and
6) Constituency building and advocacy.
We are also analyzing how these areas
impact high-growth women entrepreneurs.
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