It's a great time to be a Woman in Business. Every year more and more women are taking the step to go it alone and start up in business. Yet female entrepreneurship still lags behind male led entrepreneurship with just 14% of all businesses owned by women.

To help encourage and support more women to consider enterprise as a career option, NatWest has established a team of Women in Business Ambassadors across the UK. The team consists of female Relationship Managers, based in local areas, dedicated to supporting more women to start-up and grow their business.

To celebrate Women's Enterprise Day, boost female entrepreneurship and to support more women in gaining additional skills in running their own business, NatWest is launching a Mentoring Competition in partnership with the Financial Mail on Sunday and everywoman. Do you run your own business? Could your business benefit from mentoring from an award winning female entrepreneur? There are many inspirational women who can help move forward a new generation of female entrepreneurs and increase total entrepreneurial activity in the UK.

Did you know that:

• If women started businesses at the same rates as men, 150,000 extra businesses would be created. If we matched the rates of female entrepreneurship of the US, that figure would be 900,000.*
• Women starting out in business will tend to provide a more immediate contribution to the economy; around one in five women come into self employment from unemployment, compared to around one in fifteen men.**
• 88% of women predict business growth over the next five years compared to 74% of men.***

Register for our competition and you could be in with a chance to be Mentored by the award winning Sháá Wasmund, entrepreneur and founder of Smarta.com. Sháá has had an eclectic entrepreneurial career ranging from promoting boxer Chris Eubank's fight to working with Sir James Dyson to establish his vacuum cleaners as one of the UK's biggest brands. She helped set up www.deckchair.com with Sir Bob Geldof and founded mykindaplace.com which was sold to BSkyB.

Sháá combines real entrepreneurial drive and experience with a genuine desire to encourage and inspire others. Her latest venture is living proof. Smarta.com launched in January 2009 and is an innovative business platform providing free advice, networking and tools for entrepreneurs and business owners. Smarta has the support of leading UK entrepreneurs including Theo Paphitis, Deborah Meaden and Michael Birch.

www.smarta.com

"This is a great chance to learn from Sháá's entrepreneurial experience and give your business that extra help and support to move forward, as well as inspiring more women to follow your lead and experience the benefits of business ownership."
Carolyn Currie, Head of Women in Business, NatWest

Two runners-up will also receive mentoring sessions with senior members of the NatWest Women in Business Ambassador team and inspirational female entrepreneurs who have previously won an everywoman award to recognise their business achievements Imagine how you could benefit from these mentoring sessions and realise your business potential. Enter our competition now for your chance to win this great opportunity.

*Source: Rt Hon Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, May 2009
** Source: SBS Promoting Female Entrepreneurship, March 2005
*** Source: everywoman and NatWest research 2008