In the UK, we have one of the worst records for levels of female entrepreneurs. Alison Rose, CEO of Natwest’s Commercial and Private Banking has reviewed the situation and encouraged some realistic solutions to enhance the UK’s support and funding for female entrepreneurs.
Firstly, advancing female entrepreneurship represents a £250 Billion opportunity for the UK economy. Physically, females are underrepresented in the most productive, high value sectors of transportation, financial services, manufacturing and I.T. & Communications.
Rose has suggested three main solutions to help more women succeed as entrepreneurs. The first being that the Government should increase funding towards female entrepreneurs, (women’s average starting capital is 50% less than men’s. Greater family support is needed as women will spend 60% more time than men on family care. Entrepreneurship also needs to be made more accessible to women and so does support.
In order to increase funding towards female entrepreneurs, we need to promote transparency in UK allocated funding and track where we are spending money allocated to women. We need to launch a new investment into where women can benefit from new funding as well as also encouraging institutional and private investors to help further support and invest in female entrepreneurship.
New banking products could be created directed to entrepreneurs with new childcare responsibilities as well as creating an accessible first-stop digital shop. Furthermore, Rose suggested that we should accelerate the development and roll-out of entrepreneurship- related courses to schools and colleges whilst expanding networking and mentoring opportunities.
Overall, making entrepreneurial opportunities more accessible to women via funding, encouragement and support in tackling realistic problems will be beneficial for all. At the IOEE, we fully support any entrepreneur from start-ups to already existing business owners, from mentors to novices, we have a membership tailored to your needs, female or not.
Here at the IOEE we support individuals build their business idea, get their business' off the ground and help grow their business so if you’d like to find out more and how you can be recognised as an IOEE member, click here: http://bit.ly/2EjzYmr