March of the mumpreneurs

Now 800,000 women run their own businesses part-time

A RECORD number of women are running their own businesses part-time, official figures show. The number of ‘ mumpreneurs’ – mothers starting firms from home – and other women setting up part-time now exceeds 800,000.

Those wanting to fit work around family life are likely to be behind the boom, experts said.

There are 807,000 self-employed women working part-time – the highest since records began in 1992, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The figure has risen 3.7 per cent on last year.

The number of men working for themselves part- time is at 564,000, up 7.3 per cent in a year.

Mandy Garner, of Workingmums. co.uk, said: ‘ One of the main reasons women chose to set up their own business is flexibility.

‘They also want a challenge – to be able to use their skills and do something they feel passionate about.’ She said technology meant it was easier than ever before to work outside an office, with some mothers running global businesses from home.

Dan Godsall, founder of Work, Me and the Baby, said: ‘Creating a lifestyle for yourself that fulfils your needs and desires, enabling you to be professionally and personally fulfilled has to be a good thing for the family.

‘Pursuing your passions in life creates contentment and builds your self- esteem and feeling of self-worth.

‘These are magic ingredients that help relationships thrive.

[It is] also great for role-modelling for your children, and giving them the confidence that you can make positive choices about your life and how you want it to be.’

Inge Woudstra, author of Be Gender Smart, warned that it could be hard for businesses run part-time to make a profit and said it was ‘ sad’ that well- educated women were leaving the mainstream workforce because of a lack of flexibility.

She said: ‘ Parents crave more flexibility. Starting your own business allows you to create a culture, colleagues and working hours that work for you.’

Figures show there are about two million stay- at- home mothers in the UK, a drop of 3.5 per cent in a year.

Claire Paye, of Mothers at Home Matter, warned that there was a ‘demonising’ of the stay-athome mother for not doing enough to contribute financially.

She said: ‘ There is a slightly worrying trend towards stay-athome mothers feeling guilty they are not earning anything.

‘There is a cultural shift that suggests if you are not earning anything then you are of no value – caring for your children is not enough.’

But she said the growth in the number of women running their own businesses showed they had ‘creativity and good ideas’ and should not be under-valued.

‘ Women are realising work outside the home is not all it’s cracked up to be and would rather do something they are interested in and fits around their children,’ she said.

‘Mothers do want to be caring for their children – they don’t want the Government just to throw money at them for childcare.’

‘There is a cultural shift’