EXPERTS say a new initiative to discover what makes American women more entrepreneurial may come down to confidence and cash.

Secretary of State for Business John Hutton is in the US to find out why 50 per cent more women set up businesses there than in the UK.

He will visit a women’s business centre in North Virginia where he will meet policy makers from the American Small Business Federation and also women entrepreneurs.

"When it comes to women setting up businesses the US is streets ahead," he told the BBC’s Politics Show.

"The UK has made tremendous progress, but we also have the motivation to do more and to do better."

Business Link Kent stages start-up workshops especially for women, as well as one-day conferences for women wanting to set up in business.

Tony Buddin, head of marketing, said he believed women in the US were more confident in their own personal ability to set up in business. They were also more likely to be able to get hold of the capital they needed.

He said: "Some women we see may have a good skill but they have not quite got the confidence to turn it into a business."

"Sometimes this is because they have tended to be the home makers, they have a career break and they need special help to come back.

"Sometimes it is confidence building that is needed. We have confidence-building workshops which are really aimed at women returning to work."

He added: "With others it may be a financial issue. Women tend to be less well-paid than men and they may find it harder to raise the money they need to start a business.

"In the US, family and friends are much more likely to lend you money to start a business than they are here."

Effective and affordable childcare could also be an issue, he said.

Jane Wallace, chairman of East Kent Women in Business and head of the Canterbury

franchise of House of Colour, paid tribute to Business Link.

"Things are moving on for women. On a personal level, when I set up six years ago I came from a corporate background and what I found it difficult was moving into doing everything for myself, from the marketing, to buying stationery, to the accounts."

She said workshops and courses were useful in helping women to pick up such skills.