Laura Rigney, co-founder of Mumpreneur UK, the leading mumpreneur support network in the UK and organisers of the Mumpreneur Conference & Awards says ‘It’s fantastic that ‘mumpreneur’ has finally been entered in to the dictionary. It’s a word that’s used widely in women’s enterprise circles and we obviously love it! It defines the fact that we are juggling motherhood with building successful businesses and the fact that it’s now in the dictionary signifies that the mumpreneur movement is still on the up.’
The Collins English dictionary defines the term as ‘a woman who combines running a business with looking after her children’ but won’t come as welcome news to everyone.
Rigney goes on to say ‘Mumpreneur has always been a word that causes controversy. You either love it or hate it. Some see it as a degrading term that belittles their business efforts but hopefully now they will change their minds.’
With the number of mumpreneurs in the UK set to rocket after 32,000 women gave up work in 2010 due to the rising cost of childcare, this is a term that will become even more common place.
‘I have always been proud to call myself a mumpreneur’ explains Laura ‘in one word, it explains that my children are the reason I started my business and that they are also the reason I will strive to be as successful as possible. After all, if I hadn’t had my children, I would never have started my business or met some of the amazing achievers that I’ve met on my journey!’
Mumpreneurs in the UK contribute £7.4 billion to the economy each year and even the Government now recognises this sector as a ‘multi-billion pound opportunity’
It looks like the rise of the mumpreneur is here to stay!
