PeoplePerHour.com (http://www.peopleperhour.com/) – Europe’s biggest online business marketplace – today reported a 110 percent rise in mumpreneurs on the site in the last 12 months.
The information comes on the back of an announcement that mumpreneurs is one of a new batch of words to be added to the latest edition of the Collins dictionary.
Many of the women surveyed for PeoplePerHour.com also revealed that many started their own business because women with children aren’t valued enough in the work place. They still fear prejudice and stigma for having children.
“Many companies still don’t do enough to recognise the needs of working mums,” said business woman and mumpreneur Jackie Allen from Twickenham who signed up to PeoplePerHour.com.
“When I managed a big team my best worker was a mum of triplets - but after having her children she just couldn't do a big full time role any more - so we got her amazing skills and dedication in return for being flexible around school hours and holidays. Lots of my colleagues couldn't get it at all – they had failed to see the benefit of having her skills to make their business more successful - it just takes a more open mind and flexible attitude to managing people!”
The highest increase in mumpreneurs was in the South East with a 29 percent increase in joining the site over the last three months, with 13 percent and 10 percent respectively from the South West and Midlands. Mumpreneurs also gained the highest rating for quality of work from their business, with an average score for mumpreneurs of five out of five.
According to PeoplePerHour.com founder and CEO Xenios Thrasyvoulou: “These latest figures show that highly skilled and dynamic women with children are setting up their own businesses in order to get on in the world of business. It is shocking to think they still fear prejudice and inflexible bosses in the 21st century.
“Yet our research also shows that mumpreneurs are some of the most highly skilled and hardest working who produce the best quality of work. As business women and mums they are second to none.
“These women are also forward thinkers, realizing that they can help build their businesses by using highly skilled but competitively priced freelancers. They’ve moved with the times and have discovered that the jobs market is changing fast with flexible, remote and highly skilled freelance consultants becoming central to supporting small businesses throughout the UK.
“What this research also shows is that mumpreneurs are taking advantage of technology faster than any other group. They use the internet and cloud working to be more flexible, more highly skilled and overall more successful. The rest of British business has a lot to learn from these inspiring business women,” says Thrasyvoulou.
Case study:
Mumprenuer Jackie stands up for mums
Jackie from Twickenham runs her own business from home and looks after two children – one six and one 11 years old. She started her own business because she didn’t feel that her employer would offer her enough flexibility so that she could bring up her children.
As well as being a working mum, she is trying to build a network of part time working mums who can work with her. “I want them to benefit from my way of working even if they aren't confident enough to setup on their own.
As working mum she has to work around the children: “I supplement school hours with evenings and weekends when the kids are doing other things or in bed. In school hols I get up really early and work evenings depending on what I'm up to with my kids and what client projects I have on. Now my kids are older they understand that I need to work during holidays a bit and so we organise our days to fit all our needs and they are happy to get on with other things while I'm working.”
She also set up her own company because she feels women aren’t taken seriously in the work pace. “Many companies still don't do enough to recognise the needs of working mums. When I managed a big team my best worker was a mum of triplets - she was so organised and had had an amazing job before having her kids but just couldn't do a big full time role any more - so we got her amazing skills and dedication in return for being flexible around school hours and holidays. Lots of my colleagues couldn't get it at all - I say more fool those people who could be benefiting from better skills to make their businesses more successful - it just takes a more open mind and flexible attitude to managing people!”
For further information, photos, interviews and case studies, please contact:
Sami McCabe
t: +44 (0) 20 3393 8277
m: +44 (0) 7789 777 440
e: sami@ubiquitycomms.com
PeoplePerHour.com Background Information
PeoplePerHour.com connects businesses with skilled individuals to get work done remotely.
The site serves the small business sector and has over 45,000 registered users growing at 15% per month, of whom 70% are micro-businesses (five or less employees) and 20% are between five and 20 employees.
The company started in 2007 and has been grown consistently, unabated by the recession. This growth has been fuelled by companies’ need to drive down costs and find more innovative, cost-effective and flexible ways of getting jobs done.
Main service categories on the site are IT& Web, Graphic Design, Telesales, Marketing and PR, Copywriting and Translation services.
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