How Cumbria LEP is ensuring gender equality in the business community

The campaign centres around forging a more inclusive world for women to inspire a sense of empowerment, relevance and belonging.

A message wholly supported by Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership, which plays a crucial role in driving forward economic growth and business and job creation in Cumbria.

Jo Lappin, chief executive at Cumbria LEP, recognises the importance of making sure that women are equal partners in driving forward economic and business growth and the importance of empowering women to achieve their potential.

She said: "In recent years there has been strong progress in business formation, with women in the UK starting twice as many businesses in 2022 as they did in 2018, with over 20 per cent of all new incorporations being female led.

"However, it’s clear that greater progress is needed as that is still only a fifth of all incorporations.

"We in the LEP have always been committed to inclusion and supporting women as demonstrated by our own Board, of whom over 50 per cent are women, representing the breadth of our business community.

"They are actively involved in working collaboratively to lead economic strategy and delivery for Cumbria.

“The LEP is actively committed to the next generation, with our Futures Forum having strong female representation, who are making sure that they are focused on achieving their own potential and helping to develop a world of work that reflects their needs and that of future generations.

"Our Careers Hub is also working with schools across the county to bring role models into education and ensure that young people understand the range of options available to them in the world of work.

"Our Cumbria Accelerator programme now features a specific support strand for women wanting to develop a small business, while our Skills Bootcamps are providing opportunities for women to progress careers in areas like construction, which historically has been a very male-dominated industry." 

Sarah Swindley is chief executive officer of the Lake District Foundation, a new charity established in 2017, and is also a non-executive director on the LEP board as well as South Lakes Housing.

Prior to this Sarah was the CEO of Cumbria and Lancashire Women’s Centres, which provided one-stop shop health and social care services to women with a range of needs including mental health, social exclusion and complex vulnerabilities.

Sarah is also a leadership consultant for the Cascading Leadership Programme which provides leadership support to third sector leaders.

Sarah said: "I’ve been on the LEP board for about six years now. It's been an incredible experience.

"We have a female chief executive and we've really worked hard on gender balance on the board because we definitely believe that diverse boards are more effective boards.

"It's not about tokenism, it's about people being there from whatever community on their own merits, but absolutely not recruiting in our own image all the time.

"I've met some very inspiring women through that work, whether the senior in business in the county or whether they're running large charities or working with incredible pace through governance and really complex and strategic capital projects.

"The Local Enterprise Partnership has really worked hard to put Cumbria on the map, thinking about the strategic economic work that can be done collectively.

"And I think that's had female leadership written right throughout it and that idea, as I say, of diverse boards being the most effective and the most representative, we try to represent the business voice in the county and I think we've done a lot of work to be able to do that, where we've got people from a whole range of different backgrounds, different industries who come together with a single purpose to make sure that it’s a thriving place."

Jo Iles followed career paths in Hong Kong and Iceland before settling in Cumbria in 2019 when along with her husband James they had the idea to launch a candle business.

A year later, they were both full time in Lakeland Lights with an expanding customer base predominantly focusing on the Cumbrian market. Fast-forward to 2024 and they have an expanding, successful business with around 50 wholesale clients, a growing website business, two workshops and last year launched into Wales.

As well as Jo and James, there is another full-time member of the team as well as several freelancers – and they are set to expand the team and reach further this year.

Lakeland Lights, which among its products creates unique candles named after areas in Cumbria, received support from Cumbria LEP’s Cumbria Accelerator programme and had access to a business advisor.

Jo said: “Cumbria LEP gave us some business support which has helped us to strategise and plan how we want to spend this year growing.

"That's also led us to making some new contacts, whether it be marketing or actual business consultancy, and so that we're in a better position and have a really strong foundation for this year of growth.”