England 19/07/2013 – The Liverpool based Mums in Business network; set up a couple of years ago is going from strength to strength.
When Claire Currie returned to work as a partner for Kirwan’s Solicitors after having her son three years ago she realised that there were lots of other mums who wanted to work. She realised that it would be a good idea to get them together to swap ideas and life management tips. However, when she looked around for a networking group she realised that the vast majority of networking events were held early in the morning or late in the evening. Unfortunately, this meant that the vast majority of mothers were unable to attend such networking events. As a partner of Kirwans, a well-established firm of solicitors in Liverpool she knew she was in a position to help, so set up a new network called Mums in Business, which met at lunchtime. The idea of the group was to allow mothers who wanted to set up or grow their businesses to meet at a time that was convenient to them. In this way, Claire and her firm have been able to help many local businesses to grow and prosper.
Typically, their lunchtime sessions attract between 30 and 40 women from a range of professional backgrounds. This gives people who are new to business the opportunity to mix with those who already have established businesses, or can offer them the services that they need.
When interviewed by the Liverpool Daily Post, in May, Claire said, “It is clear there are many women interested in looking for commercial property. The discussions I had following my talk reiterated the fact that the region’s businesswomen are keen to learn more about how what to look for when acquiring new business premises or purchasing a business and how they can improve their businesses.” A range of subjects including franchising and balancing the needs of a family with the demands of business, have been discussed at the meetings.
Plans for the future
To date, sessions have been held in Liverpool and in the Wirral and have been received warmly in both areas. There are plans to hold some of the next meetings further afield in places like West Kirby and Southport. Kirwan’s Solicitors has customers across the city, so plan to use their experience of what the customers need to determine where future meetings will be held and what subjects will be covered at those meetings. The plan is to continue to help Liverpool’s entrepreneurs, in particular, its female business owners to grow and prosper.