University of Essex

School of Entrepreneurship & Business

The Crystal Room Forum for Enterprising Women

The Launch and Setting of Objectives

The Forum for Enterprising Women (FEW) was launched in March 2006 with a view to bringing women in business in the region together to explore and exchange entrepreneurial ideas and experiences. The women who attended the inaugural meeting wove together a rich fabric of ideas and issues which helped to address issues covering:

  • growth and innovation
  • use of the student and research base to enable small enterprises to benefit from the academic base and students to obtain valuable insights into the creation and development of a business
  • working with the School of Entrepreneurship and Business to develop local, national and international networks
  • business and personal development.

The discussion of these issues helped to establish the direction and purpose of the forum. The launch set an international objective for the forum to help achieve excellence, creativity, technology, innovation and smart networking, which transcended gender and location.

Initial Activities and Developments

Going Global (1) - Meeting French Counterparts, Sophia Antipolis, in France
Going Global (2) - Meeting Latvian Counterparts in Latvia

Future Prospects

The time is now ripe for the FEW to enhance its capacity and to achieve genuine business prospects for all enterprising women in Essex in co-operation with their international counterparts and with SEB. The ‘Crystal Room’ welcomes the dynamics that innovative businesswomen bring to bear on entrepreneurship and sustainable economic growth, and seeks new members to provide substance and value that they can generate through this unique forum.