Minister for women and equalities Helen Grant has announced an initiative aimed at giving teams of budding female student entrepreneurs a taste of what it’s like to run their own business.

The initiative, launched ahead of International Women’s Day on 8th March, will be run by Young Enterprise, which helps develop employability skills in 250,000 young people each year.

The ‘Women’s Start Up Project’ is the first female-focused programme designed to equip people with the skills necessary to start their own business.

It will promote enterprise in the tourism, hospitality and creative industries.

Ms Grant said: “Our economy needs to see more women setting up and running their own businesses.

“The tourism and creative industries make a massive contribution to the country and women play major roles in these sectors.”

The creative sector contributes £71.4 billion a year to the UK economy, while tourism and hospitality is worth £53 billion annually.