The Gender Gap
When it comes to diversity in entrepreneurship, as a society, we still have a long way to go.
Despite seeing small gains in the quest for parity among entrepreneurs in recent years, women-led businesses received less than 2% of venture capital funding in the UK in 2023. Why?
This is just one of the questions that aims to answer. The Taskforce, chaired by founder of Starling Bank, Anne Boden, aims to boost the number of women-led high-growth enterprises across all regions in the UK. The first step in achieving this was to understand the current landscape for women entrepreneurs. Their findings were published in a report in February 2024.
The Taskforce worked with entrepreneurs, campaigning organisations, and the investment community to gather data and identify the main barriers for women in starting and scaling high-growth enterprises, and most importantly, determine strategies to break down these barriers.
Ignore for a moment the scale of the challenge and instead look at the size of the opportunity. That opportunity lies in the changes that are coming.
The findings
Underrepresentation: Women-led businesses are significantly underrepresented in the UK economy, making up only one in three businesses.
Growth Potential: The report emphasises the significant growth potential of women-led businesses, suggesting that if women set up and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, it could add 拢250bn to the UK economy.
Barriers to Growth: Women-led businesses often face barriers to growth, including limited access to finance, networks, and business support.
Investment Gap: There is a notable investment gap for women-led businesses, with evidence showing that women receive only a small fraction of venture capital investment compared to male-led businesses.
Policy Recommendations: The report proposes several policy recommendations to address these challenges, such as increasing access to finance, improving support networks, and creating a more inclusive business environment.
Job Creation Potential: Women-led businesses have the potential to create millions of jobs in the UK economy if they are supported to grow at the same rate as male-led businesses.
Global Comparisons: The UK lags behind other countries in terms of the proportion of women-led businesses. For example, the US has a higher proportion of women-led businesses, with women owning 40% of all businesses.
Innovation and Technology: Women-led businesses are often at the forefront of innovation and technology. For instance, women-led businesses are more likely to patent their inventions, with 22% of patent applications coming from women-owned businesses.
Access to Networks: Women-led businesses report challenges in accessing networks and support, with 59% citing a lack of access to networks as a barrier to growth.
Business Support: The report emphasises the need for tailored business support for women entrepreneurs, highlighting that only 38% of women feel they have access to the right support to grow their businesses.
