West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship project empowers local business owners
Invest in West Lothian’s West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship project provided female entrepreneurs with the tools, support, and networking opportunities needed to help them grow and succeed in their business endeavours.
This exciting project was funded by the Scottish Government’s Pathways Fund. The purpose of this fund was to expand entrepreneurship in Scotland and help adults that are under-represented in business, including women and ethnic minorities, turn their ideas into growing enterprises.
With this funding, the Invest in West Lothian team was able to offer a variety of upskilling opportunities to local residents, including the opportunity to take part in two occurrences of the West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship Programme.
This 4-part programme, delivered by Michelle Brown, has been designed to help entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level. Topics covered include: business strategy, finances, marketing and branding, and self-confidence.
Applicants that attended all sessions were given the opportunity to apply for funding to help them implement the necessary changes identified during the programme. The feedback from the programme was extremely positive, with participants leaving with increased confidence and the motivation to move forward with their businesses.
Two exciting ‘Get Ready for Investment’ workshops also took place during the project, delivered by the Martin Aitken & Co team. The workshops, which were available both in person and as webinars, were designed to help entrepreneurs become investor ready and improve their understanding of the sources and types of funding available to help their businesses grow.
New and aspiring entrepreneurs also benefited from the project, with Business Gateway West Lothian Business Adviser Tahrir Waswas hosting a series of ‘Business Start Up Support Sessions.’ The virtual sessions gave women from under-represented groups the opportunity to ask Tahrir questions and get advice on how to successfully launch their businesses.
One of the main goals of the Women in Entrepreneurship project was to create networking opportunities in the local area that allowed attendees to learn from an expert, raise the profile of their businesses, and form valuable connections with likeminded local business women.
The first networking event took place at Cafebar 1912 in Bathgate, with host Michelle Brown sharing tips on how to ‘Make 2025 the Year You Achieve Your Business Goals’. Then, in celebration of International Women’s Day, a special event took place at Bathgate Golf Club with guest speaker Leigh Maybury, owner of local business Life with Style, sharing her tips on how to build a professional style that is on brand and improves your confidence. Finally, a ‘Next Steps’ event was held exclusively at Blackburn Partnership Centre for participants of the Women in Entrepreneurship Programme, allowing the participants to share what they achieved since finishing the programme.
As well as the events, a ‘pop up shop’ initiative was also carried out, with Invest in West Lothian sponsoring free pitches at Bathgate Market for 6 local business women. This gave the participants the opportunity to introduce their products to new customers and was a great success, with many participants deciding to continue selling at the market.
Information about all of the opportunities was shared first on the brand new ‘West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship’ private Facebook group, created to keep local women up to date with the latest opportunities and events.
Business Gateway West Lothian Team Leader, Linzi Winton, said, “It has been a pleasure to support so many local business owners through our West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship project. It has been great to receive such enthusiastic feedback from participants, we are delighted that it has had such a positive impact.”
To stay up to date with any future opportunities, join the West Lothian Women in Entrepreneurship Facebook group here.
