Critically, the research undertaken to inform the report was drawn directly from local female entrepreneurs, to ensure it reflected their experiences.<\/p>\n
Lyndsay Mitcheson is one of them. In 2010, she lost her leg after a serious MRSA infection. Her life changed overnight, as did her relationship with her own body. As she took the literal and metaphorical steps needed to return to normality, she found herself frustrated by the walking sticks available to her. They were, as she puts it, all \u201cgrey or flowery\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\n Neo Walk creates custom walking sticks in a multitude of colours and patterns. Image: Joanne Crawford\n <\/p>\n
So, she decided to make her own. It was clear acrylic, and to her surprise, people stopped her in the street to comment on it. The conversation had shifted to the unique stick instead of her disability, and the feeling \u201cwas priceless,\u201d she says. She wanted others to experience that. And so Neo Walk was born.<\/p>\n
Today the North Yorkshire-based company creates custom walking sticks in every shade imaginable, from glittery winter silvers to aquamarine and emerald. It ships internationally and counts Selma Blair and Christina Applegate among its customers.<\/p>\n
But Mitcheson\u2019s success has not been straightforward. Nearly a decade passed between making that first stick in her kitchen and employing her first member of staff. Alongside the sheer graft, she grappled with imposter syndrome and, significantly, the challenge of being taken seriously as a woman, let alone a disabled one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s often quite a lot of pity. \u2018Isn\u2019t she good for trying?\u2019 You get that attitude quite a lot,\u201d she says. This made approaching financial institutions even more daunting. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel that I could go looking for finance because I didn\u2019t feel I would have been taken seriously,\u201d she continues.<\/p>\n
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\n New Walk’s sticks are customisable and made to order. Image: Joanne Crawford\n <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a sentiment expressed all too often by female entrepreneurs, alongside lack of access to mentorship and the high mental load that comes with running a business alongside the commitments of everyday life. But, according to the report, significant prizes are up for grabs if these barriers were removed: up to 165,000 jobs and an additional \u00a32.6bn in GVA \u2013 gross value added \u2013 the value generated in the production of goods and services.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s another even more astonishing potential gain: the \u00a3250bn of new revenue that could be realised in the UK, if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a figure Andrea Morrison likes to drop into conversation. An entrepreneur herself, she is also the regional chair for the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) for Yorkshire, the Humber and North East England. A few years ago she sat in on a local authority meeting that focused on the area\u2019s 10 year economic strategy. \u201cI happened to drop in that [\u00a3250bn stat]. You could literally hear a pin drop, because nobody had heard that figure before,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
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