New partnership between Accelerateher and Barclays Eagle Labs aims to encourage women into entrepreneurship
Barclays Eagle Labs and Accelerateher have teamed up to create a new accelerator aiming to bring in more women to entrepreneurship and level the playing field for femalefounded businesses.
The two organisations are joining forces to deliver the Barclays Eagle Labs Female Founder Accelerator Programme, supporting 40 innovative female-led businesses acrosstheukandrunningnext year from February 3 to March 24 inclusive, with the deadline for applications January 6. It is expected that participants will benefit from a series of weekly sessions, delivered digitally overeightweeks,whichinclude expert-led business masterclasses on topics such as proposition-building, finance and pitching, as well as other activities aimed at enhancing business growth.
All participants will be allocated a mentor throughout the programme and benefit from access to the Barclays Eagle Labs and Accelerateher ecosystems, which includes invitations to business events and other programmes led by the
organisations. Women behind early-stage technology firms will also be invited to attend an additional tech build clinic, led by an experienced industry founder or specialist. At the end of the programme, participants will have an opportunity to showcase their business to potential clients and investors at a showcase event.
Amanda Allan, director of Barclays Eagle Labs, which has nearly 40 business incubator spaces for start-ups and scale-ups in the UK, cheered the tie-up, adding: “The programme is designed to help emerging businesswomen scale up their companies and level up the playing field for female-led businesses. I would encourage aspirational female founders behind innovative businesses to apply for the programme.”
Elizabeth Pirrie, chief executive of Accelerateher, which recently signed up Scottish Enterprise as a key partner, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Barclays Eagle Labs to deliver its accelerator programme for female founders. We have established a close, long-term relationship with Barclays Eagle Labs through our Accelerateher programme and we look forward to building on that rapport to help more UK women scale their businesses to the highest possible level.”