Women builders' pioneer to speak

From the Kidderminster Shuttle, first published Tuesday 26th Jun 2007.

AN entrepreneur who started a women's building firm because she wanted to become a plasterer, is going to speak at the second Small Firms' Summit organised by the Forum of Private Business - FPB.

Janet Shelley, who was recently awarded an MBE, will tell an audience of owners and managers of smaller businesses that, at the age of 37, she decided to leave the IT industry and go into the building trade.

She was unable to find a suitable vocational training course, however, as her local further education college only offered modern apprenticeships for people under the age of 25. That prompted her to found Women Builders, with the aim of carrying out building projects and encouraging women to enter the trade.

"The Government says it wants more women to enter manual trades", she said, "But most women who plan to go into the building trade are older and there is little opportunity for them to train."

She will speak about how Women Builders was set up and the difficulties for a smaller firm in winning public sector contracts. The company carries out housing extensions and building maintenance work, as well as training women builders. It has just launched its own design of work-wear for women builders, WICKED.

She is chairman of Women and Manual Trades and vice-chairman of the Summit Skills and Diversity Interest Group. Since setting up Women Builders, she has been so busy running it that she has still not learned how to plaster.

The FPB's Small Firms' Summit is sponsored by Barclays Bank and will be held at Central Hall, Westminster, London on Wednesday, October 17. The keynote speaker is Charles Clarke MP, who has been Home Secretary and the Education and Skills Secretary in the present Government.

The summit will also feature workshops in which the owners and managers of smaller businesses can discuss how Government policies affect their companies and make their concerns heard over issues such as red tape and regulations.

There is a 20 per cent discount for all delegates booking and paying before Monday. For more information or to book a place, log on to www.fpb.org/summit

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