Many of you know that we are developing a strategic alliance with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Natwest and I must say not only has the last 6 months been an absolute pleasure working with the team to build on this alliance, I was really delighted to have been invited to attend a parliamentary reception at the House of Commons where they launched their Good Business Report.
Being an ex-banker myself, I feel that I can say that banks so often pay lip service when trying to tackle a specific market, in this case, women in business but the RBS/Natwest approach is totally refreshing.
A figure that is being continuously banded about in my industry is that if women in business matched the levels of our US counterparts (% per head), there would be an additional 900,000 businesses in the UK and it's this figure that the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) are really keen to tap into and begin to close the gap.
RBS/Natwest have been on the case now for over a year and since June 07 to date, they have pulled together an impressive network of Women in Business Ambassadors to help support women in their local business community.
Not only do the managers (all female!) have an understanding of the levels of support needed for many women in developing their businesses, they have also made (and continue to do so!) excellent networkers, consistently referring business and contacts to their clients.
Whilst this may seem a familiar story of how the 'old boy's network' can operate, it is SOOOO refreshing to hear of women working the system to great effect!
Thank you RBS/Natwest! It restores ones faith in the banking system!
that's really good news!
Antonia
Posted by: Antonia | June 24, 2008 at 02:03 PM