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’s been tough to close the doors.
“Setting this up was a calling,” she says.
“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.”
No funding from Scottish Government
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’s 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 says.
“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.
“I’m more than happy to share my insights to help reach more women and prevent this service from stopping.”
Aspiring Women is ‘the phoenix’
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 from diverse social and cultural backgrounds.
The founder hopes the new charity will get funds to get off the ground and thanks the business community for their support throughout the years.
Angie says: “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 million worth of generosity and kind support we’ve received over the five years, which is just outstanding.”
Women’s Business Station history
WBS was set up in 2017 through the Coca-Cola 5by20 initiative, which aimed to economically empower five million women by 2020.
When Coca-Cola funding ended in December 2019, Angie wanted to keep supporting female entrepreneurs.
WBS then set its own target of 10by30 – to enhance the socio-economic empowerment of 10,000 women in Scotland by 2030.
The Aspiring Woman programme, aiming to support women in vulnerable positions, launched in September 2021.
Its entrepreneur hub in Dundee’s 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 into education, career progression 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 it recognised the “valuable contribution” of Women’s Business Station but budget pressures means it has to take “hard choices”.
“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 during what is the most challenging economic times since devolution,” a spokesperson said.
Conversation