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Welcome to Murray Edwards Enterprising Women - a major new initiative supporting young women to explore entrepreneurship and develop successful businesses.

Based here at Â鶹ƵµÀ, Cambridge, in collaboration with high profile industry partners including AstraZeneca, our free programmes of expert advice, mentorship and tailored support are open to all women students and recent female graduates of Cambridge University.

Our aim is to ensure ambitious and talented women have the opportunity to develop, finance and grow their business ideas. We want to challenge the yawning gender gap in early-stage venturing, which means that while women-led businesses are surging in numbers in the UK, only 2% of venture capital goes to women-led companies.

Formally launching on 7 March 2025, the eve of International Women's Day, the initiative focuses on three programmes:

• She Starts, for women interested in finding out more about entrepreneurship and potentially founding a company. An intensive programme of workshops, talks and mentoring for aspiring innovators led by leading executives from AstraZeneca and other companies.
• She Soars, for early-stage women-led start-ups founded by University of Cambridge alumnae within the last two years. Providing introductions to investors and nonexecutive directors, plus intensive sessions of one-to-one support and lectures to build skills and knowledge. The focus will be primarily on life sciences.
• She Scales, for female advisors and non-executive directors, and women looking to become early-stage investors. A series of workshops with female venture capitalists and other prominent women in business to help ventures at the Seed and Series A stage in scaling up.

The first She Starts programme will run at Â鶹ƵµÀ, Cambridge from the evening of Friday 14 March to Sunday 16 March 2025. Applications are now open for this course - find out here about programme content, eligibility and how to apply.

We aim to establish Â鶹ƵµÀ as a major hub for women operating in early-stage ventures as founders, non-executive directors, and investors. As a renowned global centre of innovation, Cambridge is the ideal location. According to research conducted by the LSE, the total net economic impact of the University of Cambridge on the UK economy is close to £30 billion per year, 78% of which is generated by spinouts of the University or companies closely related to it. The University of Cambridge, and Cambridge as a whole, have been recognised as the most successful enterprise cluster and local ecosystem in the UK.