Ethical Business Maker & Entrepreneur

Overview

This pathway is for women ready to design, launch, and sustain their own ventures in the creative economy — often starting as solo founders or micro-enterprises. Unlike the Creative Enterprise Leader, who scales organisations and large ventures, the Ethical Business Maker & Entrepreneur builds from the ground up, carving viable futures for themselves and their communities through smaller, values-led enterprises.

The role is positioned at the intersection of health, arts, music, and wellbeing. These entrepreneurs create businesses that sound like joy and belonging — community studios, small-batch fashion lines, wellness music platforms, cultural food start-ups, online craft markets, local creative hubs. They feel grounded in care, ethics, and sustainability. They look like women building livelihoods with dignity, flexibility, and independence — often balancing care responsibilities while contributing to the broader economy.

This pathway equips participants to design businesses that don’t exploit but heal: ventures that nourish local economies, respect ecological limits, and generate joy alongside income. It is about embedding ethics and impact into the DNA of commerce — not as a luxury, but as a baseline

Why Choose This Pathway?

• Establish self-employment ventures with robust business skills and confidence.
• Build sustainable, ethical business models that prioritise wellbeing as much as profit.
• Overcome gendered barriers to finance, recognition, and infrastructure for female-led start-ups.
• Contribute to healthier, more resilient communities through commerce rooted in joy, culture, and care.
• Join a future-ready movement where entrepreneurship is recognised as both cultural work and economic renewal.

What You Will Learn

• Foundations of business planning, financial literacy, and sustainable commerce.
• Strategies for pricing, marketing, and customer relationships tailored to micro and solo enterprises.
• Ethical frameworks for sourcing, production, and trade.
• Methods for integrating creativity, health, and wellbeing into viable business models.
• Tools for digital platforms, e-commerce, and global micro-economies.
• Resilience practices for self-employed founders — balancing health, livelihood, and joy.

Learning Outcomes

Graduates will be able to:

1. Launch and grow ethical businesses that generate income and cultural value.
2. Apply sustainable and regenerative practices to commerce.
3. Navigate gendered barriers in finance, infrastructure, and recognition.
4. Operate confidently as solo or small-scale entrepreneurs within the creative economy.
5. Position their ventures as part of broader health, cultural, and wellbeing ecosystems.

Career Pathways

• Independent creative entrepreneur (fashion, music, design, wellness, publishing, food, digital arts).
• Founder of local cultural or wellbeing-focused start-up.
• Ethical product or service creator in health, arts, or cultural industries.
• Consultant or micro-trader in sustainable creative commerce.
• Social entrepreneur addressing wellbeing through culture and creativity.

Program Format

Duration: 10 months, part-time

Mode: Online and in-person learning

Assessment: Project work and portfolio submission

Certification: : Graduates receive the Certified Creative Practitioner™ credential from the Creative Women’s Authority™

Entry Requirements

Applicants should have:

• Ability to initiate, manage, or grow a creative or solo business venture at a professional or emerging-professional level.
• Skills and tools to plan, budget, and operate ethically aligned enterprises (e.g. digital platforms, e-commerce, service delivery, or product design).
• Commitment to building businesses with purpose, sustainability, and community benefit at their core.
• English proficiency suitable for professional practice.
• English proficiency suitable for professional practice