Call for Government to help more female entrepreneurs scale-up their businesses

A North West agency supporting female entrepreneurship has backed a new report published today calling for the Government to do more to remove the barriers faced by female entrepreneurs when scaling up their businesses.

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Entrepreneurship report on Women in Leadership highlights the fact that, as more and more women start their businesses, there is little progress in them scaling up their ventures.

It found that only a tenth of growing firms with revenue between £1m-£250m are run by women. In the US, this figure is closer to a fifth.

Seema Malhotra MP, vice chair of the APPG for Entrepreneurship, said: “Today, few would question that women and men make equally capable entrepreneurs and business leaders.

“Yet the APPG for Entrepreneurship’s Call for Evidence revealed that women faced ‘difficulties and obstacles in maintaining businesses, including networking opportunities that favour men, and less access to finance’.

“Just 1% of companies in the UK get to £1m in revenue: if we want to create more scale-ups, we must identify ways that untapped potential of female founders can be capitalised.”

She added: “There is a strong economic and moral case for ensuring women-led businesses scale up and are better represented in the fastest growing sectors of our economy. With better access to investors, support, great role models and networks, we will go a long way to levelling the playing field.”

Recommendations include improving data collection on business ownership, closer working between government and schools and universities, lowering childcare costs, and addressing Local Enterprise Partnerships’ current levels of inconsistent or insufficient engagement with diversity.

The Women’s Organisation, a pioneering Northern charity which operates in Liverpool and Manchester, was involved in preparing the APPG for Entrepreneurship report.

Lisa McMullan, the organisation’s director for development and consultancy, said: “The findings from the APPG for Entrepreneurship Women in Leadership report confirm what we, at The Women’s Organisation, have known for so long now.

“Whilst there has been marked progress in the number of women starting businesses, the same simply cannot be said for women growing businesses.

“Only a tenth of growing firms with revenue between £1m-£250m are run by women meaning women are still a hugely untapped entrepreneurial market within the UK economy.

“It’s about time that we recognise that female entrepreneurship is not only a gender issue, but an economic one, too.

“If the UK economy is to prosper on a global scale following Brexit, it is critical that the Government addresses the current barriers and obstacles faced by female entrepreneurs when scaling their business.

“This means ensuring that women-led businesses are equipped with finance, resources and networks to grow sustainably.

“What is more, we need the invisible female-founders to step into the spotlight and become the role models and inspiration for others to join them.”

The APPG for Entrepreneurship was set up to encourage, support and promote entrepreneurship.

It also ensures that Parliament is kept up-to-date on what is needed to create and sustain the most favourable conditions for entrepreneurship.

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