Kate Stewart Creates Sisterhood HQ For Aspiring People In Business

Liverpool businesswoman Kate Stewart, who owns The Sandon Complex in Anfield and supported living accommodation Vitality Homes, as well as a property development company, has launched female empowerment community Sisterhood HQ to support business owners and budding entrepreneurs.

Kate started her business career early and endured many tough lessons but her determination was rewarded when she became a millionaire at just 26 years old. Her journey started at Liverpool’s heritage market, a tough working class environment dominated by men where Kate encountered some steep learning curves.

Since then she has built up a successful business empire and is now ready to help the next generation by creating Sisterhood HQ. Trailblazer sat down with Ms Stewart to find out more.

What led you to create Sisterhood HQ?

In my experience people don't support each other enough in business. It’s lonely being the head of an organisation no matter how small or large it is. In fact I’d say the bigger things get, the more challenges you face but you still have to keep composed and stay focused until you find a solution.

Throughout my own journey in the business world I’ve had to learn everything the hard way which means I’ve fallen over more times that I can recall. Although these experiences taught me valuable lessons which enabled me to grow my ventures I would’ve avoided them when possible. This is why I created Sisterhood HQ, so that aspiring business owners don't have to go through what I did, they cost you a lot of time and money, both of which are vital components at the start and throughout your business career.

How do you think the world of business has changed for people, women in particular?

I recently saw a statistic that 6 in 94 CEOs are women, so there’s still a fair way to go to achieve an even playing field and with things being so tough at the moment economically you need every bit of help possible to give you and your business the best chance of success.

Even before taking that first brave step of starting your own business the numbers are against you, 80% of small businesses fail within their first year and I believe a big factor in that lies with people not having the correct support network in place, which often leads to costly mistakes that you can't recover from as a start-up.

Make no mistake about it, the world of business is a tough one where you need to expect the unexpected and the rewards are often as big as the downfalls and you never stop learning. If you’re someone who won't take no for an answer (like me!) and are willing to work hard then starting your own business could well be for you. The hardest part is actually taking that leap into the unknown, you need a trusted business network to help you avoid the inevitable pitfalls in those early stages that may stunt your growth.

How does Sisterhood HQ help aspiring people in business?

Sisterhood HQ is an online platform and a community for all things business, positivity and female empowerment. We want to encourage as many people to join us as possible and really support them on their journey to success. The community will allow our subscribers to seek out services from fellow subscribers which will be a great cross-promotion tool to help people secure new business, we’ll also be providing training courses, support with HR, health and safety, changing legislation, employment contracts and much more. We’ll also be hosting awards ceremonies to celebrate the women that we work with.

I have always supported and mentored women throughout my career but having four children of my own and multiple businesses to run can make it really hard to support as many people as I want to. Sisterhood HQ will allow me to reach so many more people and I can’t wait to get started with our weekly zoom calls and guest inspirational speakers.

How can people join?
We’re currently allowing people to pre-register for a discounted rate, all of the benefits can be found on our website sisterhoodhq.com