The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Social enterprise forced to close as funding lost
Dundee social enterprise Women’s Business Station has been forced to end its operations after losing funding.
Women’s Business Station (WBS) was set up to support women on their business journey and offered support, workshops and training.
The social enterprise, based at Wellgate Shopping Centre, had seven staff.
Founder and chief executive Angie De Vos says it has been tough to close the doors.
“Setting this up was a calling,” she said. “When you see there’s so much inequality out there it seemed like the right thing to do and as a social entrepreneur, I was driven by my passion to do good.
“The whole idea of Women’s Business Station was to have a safe space for women in business.
“It wasn’t about doing a 12-week course and leaving to set your business up alone, because certainly what I’m experiencing now is it’s not all fairytales and princesses.”
The combined effects of the pandemic, energy prices and soaring inflation has meant funding for charities and third sector organisations has been squeezed.
Angie says it costs between £160,000 and £200,000 to keep WBS running for a year, but it is too late to save the social enterprise now.
“The Scottish Government were aiming to support more women in entrepreneurship, but the pandemic pushed their review back,” she said.
“Alongside that, other funders have been squeezed because often they get their funding from Scottish Government.
“But we learned loads and it’s not goodbye. We’ll have to look at how we can utilise what we’ve learned to help with policy change and continue these services.”
The next step for Angie and the WBS team is to make their Aspiring Women programme a charity to allow it to keep running.
In less than 10 months, the pilot programme has supported 190 women.
The founder hopes the new charity will get funds to get off the ground and thanked the business community for its support.
Angie said: “This model was built on the generosity and time of the business community.
“We were like an honest broker, bridging that gap in allowing the local business community to give their time and insights to help the up-and-coming business community. Without them, the model wouldn’t have worked.
“I think that was the beauty of it. It was real insights from the people who understand the hardship and pain.
“On my last count there was about £2 millionworth of generosity and kind support we’ve received over the five years, which is just outstanding.”
WBS was set up in 2017 through the Coca-cola 5by20 initiative, which aimed to help five million women by 2020.
When Coca-cola funding ended in December 2019, Angie wanted to keep supporting female entrepreneurs.
The Aspiring Woman programme, aiming to support women in vulnerable positions, launched in September 2021.
Its entrepreneur hub in the Wellgate opened in August 2022.
Since 2019, Women’s Business Station has supported 800 women in and around Dundee. Of those, 209 have launched businesses and 168 are growing a business.
An additional 243 have entered education, work or volunteering, with 195 new jobs created. In doing so, £10.5m of economic impact has been generated within the city and surrounding areas.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We recognise the valuable contribution from the Women’s Business Station.
“We have had to find more than £1 billion in savings as part of the Emergency Budget Review to support those who need most help. This has meant making hard choices to further prioritise spending.”