Why a WBC quality standard?

In the USA, the Small Business Administration provided core funding for developing the Association of Women's Business Centres to drive the growth of women's enterprise in the USA.  In the UK, BERR (now BIS) wanted to replicate this success, but to come at it from a different angle.  There was already great work being done in the UK in different streams of women's enterprise and creating WBCs would bring together these different streams.

How did we develop it?

The standard was developed with the assistance of BSI, and wide international collaboration and consultation.  It will unify our approach in the UK, the glue that knits together these various routes.  The Association of Women's Business Centres in the States is a very powerful organisation, and the standard here will help create a similarly powerful network.  The outcome will be the same, but the route is a different one.

How are we testing it?

One key area of the BIS National Enterprise Strategy was for a number of RDAs to develop a WBC pilot.  NWDA policy, which is aligned with National Policy, is to ensure that any product funded through the public sector must be able to engage with all groups in society.  The NWDA decided to invest in the future of the WBC standard and funded the pilot to run from Dec 08 to Mar 11.  Outcomes include the development of the accreditation framework, accreditation of up to 30 Women's Business Centres and evaluation to demonstrate the tangible benefits to business support providers and their clients in attaining WBC status.

How will we share it?

There is immense interest from the Association of Women's Business Centres for their 126 WBCs to be assessed against this innovative, ground-breaking international standard.  There is nothing else like it in the world and the NWDA pilot project lays the groundwork for rolling out the standard in the UK and internationally.