Yasmin, entrepreneur and mum, tells us about her experience on the Bloomsbury Beginnings’ Big Impact Parents programme

I’m an entrepreneurial mum interested in how to work flexibly and earn money whilst juggling all my family responsibilities. I also want to help others, especially other women from the Bengali community, to get more confident with technology and willing to put themselves ‘out there’ to get work, generate an income, build their own business or even just socialise outside of the house.

Before getting involved with Bloomsbury Beginnings I had taken some on line business courses as my long term ambition is to set up my own business.  I was also active in my community, for example helping other mums to set up and use e-mails and volunteering for our roof top community garden.

Ann, the Bloomsbury Beginnings founder, encouraged me to join the Big Impact Parents programme she was piloting, for people like me who wanted to support their community and build up their own confidence and skills as entrepreneurs. The programme has involved 1:1 mentoring and coaching support, the Parent-Cubator course and a visit to Google HQ.

The most useful sessions for me were those that helped me to identify and set goals for myself. I also enjoyed hearing from the other entrepreneurs who were on the course or expert advisors, about their challenges and how they overcame them. I learnt some technical skills that I didn’t have before, for example how to use Twitter and Instagram, and I also got a lot from the sessions on sales and marketing. Although I had covered these topics in my online courses, doing the exercises in a group of other start up entrepreneurs made me think more clearly about the customers I was trying to reach and which problems I was helping them to solve.

At the end of the course we did a ‘pitch’ to the rest of the group. Although I was nervous, I was pleased with how I came across in the presentation, and have since taken up many more opportunities to speak in public.

I’ve been inspired to learn more about leadership and how to build self confidence through leading coaches and mentors like Susan Sly, and eventually would love to be able to be a mentor or coach myself.

Ann and I have kept in close touch since the course and I’ve been happy to be able to help her to spread the word about Bloomsbury Beginnings – I even helped her to record her first Facebook live! Through her I also got involved in a campaign by Best Beginnings to prevent pregnancy complications and still births – a subject very close to my heart.

My youngest daughter (I have 5 children) is just about to start nursery part time, so I’m looking forward to getting a few more hours a week to work on my goals as an entrepreneur and community leader.

2020 Update: If you’re interested in how to grow your skills as an entrepreneur or change maker, our Start Up course might be for you.  Our next programme is in January 2021