Women in Business

 

On Wednesday 17th of August the Kingsmills Hotel hosted the first Fusion Women in Business meeting. The attendance was incredibly varied and as we went around the table to do our introductions we were all amazed at the vast range of skills and experience we had in the one room. After our introductions we enjoyed a lovely main course and some more individual discussions getting to know our neighbours.

 

Over dessert we started fleshing out some ideas of what we were looking for in a group which are detailed below.

Regular events are now in the diary and bookable via the Fusion Events page.

You can also sign up for our Women In Business mailing list by completing the form below.

 

 

 

 

 

What We Would Like

A supportive, positive atmosphere

Name badges

Bumf table

Circulate contacts after meetings

Mixed session formats – some educational sessions, some social, some with speakers, some focussing on key business information such as “nuts and bolts of businesses”, some speed networking, some facilitated discussion sessions

 

Monthly – alternating between dinner and lunch sessions

6-8pm a good time for evening session

 

Mix of venues – some private dining room, some less informal

Easy parking

 

Future

We would like to promote women in business as role models and to communicate success

For women involved to be “champions” of business

To be subscription free

To be committee free and to be a group of women who meet because they want to

 

We were all very keen to look at developing some possible mentoring, role models and business champions roles. We were keen to show that women can be successful in business. Several women around the table discussed some interesting discussions with their children about their perceptions. One discussed the fact that her children ring her more frequently for family and everyday stuff because "Dad's at work" despite the fact that this lady has a great business with several employees to look after. Another discussed the fact that her daughter had seen a photo of her at a conference and her first comment was that her mummy was the only female.

 

Carol Langston from CREATE also commented that the enquiries that they receive about starting up business is 50/50 male and female and Business Gateway have reported the same mix but these figures don't seem to equate to the gender mix running businesses. Thinking about why this might be has certainly given us food for thought.

 The meeting was extremely positive and supportive with some great ideas of how to progress.

 

Here at Fusion we are going to investigate the options discussed and we will be getting the next 3 events ready and available to book very soon. We will also be setting up a Women in Business page on the Fusion website very shortly where you will be able to find all our news - events will be bookable from the Fusion events page as normal.

 On the subject of Fusion we just wanted to remind women that being a part of Fusion Women in Business does not mean you have to be a Fusion member - this group is open to everyone - providing of course you are female! (sorry Mark)