Support network launched for female entrepreneurs

A new support network aimed at female entrepreneurs is launching in Oxfordshire at the end of June.

The network will be announced at the county’s business networking event, Venturefest Oxford, where TechTonic founders will gather delegates’ feedback and opinions to help shape the network and deliver support where most needed.

With a mission to provide connections that will enable entrepreneurial women to fulfil their ambitions in the technology sector and reach their full potential, TechTonic aims to bring together aspirational people both virtually and physically to share experiences and advice.

While the forum is aimed at the women of Oxfordshire, speakers at its events and connections will include men as well as women, to ensure a broad spectrum of knowledge and expertise is offered.

The idea for Tectonic was the brainchild of Nicola McConville, a corporate lawyer specialising in the technology sector and a Partner at Penningtons Manches in the Thames Valley.

McConville explains, “The idea was prompted by a Woman’s Hour programme on Radio 4 that I heard about a ‘women in tech’ network in Cambridge and it begged the question as to why nothing similar exists in Oxfordshire? Furthermore, fewer than 5% of my portfolio of technology clients are female, so it set me thinking about how we could help existing or would-be women entrepreneurs to reach their full potential.”

SME Publications/ SME XPO 2024