Women Empowered through Coaching And Networking

The project aims to improve the outcomes of all small businesses in the region through raising women’s aspirations, equipping them with networking skills and formal management training, and building their resilience.

Edge Hill University will work with Leeds Beckett University’s Leeds Business School, and SHEY (Social Enterprise Yorkshire and Humber) , to engage and deliver #WECAN.


#WECAN aims to support women in SMEs in Leeds City Region (LCR) to:
•increase their skills in leadership and management through delivering training and support tailored to their needs 

•identify and engage with personal development opportunities (both structured and informal peer-learning and development) and progression routes towards leadership and management roles - enabling them to support business productivity 

• participate in interventions that reflect the different needs of women compared to men in the workforce, which inspire, motivate and empower them to build resilience, break any glass ceilings and overcome barriers to progression within and into management roles
• participate in existing networks and form their own to identify, develop and share good practice around leadership and management, across sectors and diverse groups of women
• improve their firms’ overall management capabilities by developing and stretching their own capabilities.


The project is receiving up to £1.7m of funding from the European Social Fund as part of the 2014-2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme in England. The Department for Work and Pensions (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for the England European Social Fund programme. Established by the European Union, the European Social Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support skills development, employment and job creation, social inclusion and local community regenerations.