AN inspirational panel of women leaders, including Jenny Campbell from the BBC Dragons’ Den, have given their backing to the launch of the Women’s Leadership Academy aimed at enabling more women to take up boardroom roles in UK businesses.

The event at Foxhills in Ottershaw last month brought together business women and some men to learn more about a new training programme set up by training specialists Professional Training Solutions and led by its managing director, Jackie Denyer.

Jackie, whose own story covers her climb from an office junior at 16 to founding her own successful training company, says the programme is focused on tackling a shortage of women leaders in the UK. It is aimed at employers who wish to develop the skills of their women leaders, small business owners wanting to further their business and women who aspire to progress in management roles.

In recounting her own personal journey, Campbell suggests that some of the challenges that face women are not so much a case of a glass ceiling but “sticky feet” which have been holding them back. However, she felt that while she acknowledged that there was a time she would have said that the introduction of quotas would not solve the gender gap, she feels that the time is now right to introduce them.

Claire Vyvyan, senior vice-president of Dell EMC UK & Ireland, agreed adding that she felt it would likely take about 20 years for the gap to close and welcomed the impact that the recent government gender pay gap survey has had.

The academy set out its role in the context of a target set by the Chartered Management Institute that calls for another one-and-a-half million women in UK management roles by 2024. It provides a two-year programme that includes workshops and masterclasses, working toward a level five leadership and management diploma from the Chartered Management Institute.

Encouraging employers to commit to the programme, Suzanne Rankin, chief executive at Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals, said: “As an employer you have to create the space to learn and enable what is necessary to develop what you have got already.”

Vyvyan agreed, adding: “What is good for women is also good for men, so what we are seeing here is in fact good for everyone.”

The event raised funds for two charities, Catalyst and Your Sanctuary.

For more details or to sign up to the programme, call Jackie Denyer on 01252 712945 or 07775 732880, or email [email protected].