There aren’t too many positives we can take out of the last year or so but what we’re loving, is that many people have taken advantage of their time at home to re-think their future. The UK is deemed as the start-up capital of Europe, with 1 company formation happening every minute in 2019 (source), and since the pandemic more people appear to be investing in themselves and their ideas. A trend that continues, despite the lack of certainty that’s sitting quite heavily on everyone’s shoulders.  

Profiling the start-up community 

While we’re encouraged to see new businesses forming at a growth rate of +5% year on year (source), it’s still crazy to think that only 6% of women run their own business. And while the number of women who are self-employed appears to rise each year, we are still significantly under represented. Only 1 in 3 of UK entrepreneurs are female: a gender gap equivalent to ~1.1 million missing businesses. (source)

Setting up a business is pretty daunting but what are the main reasons women seem to be holding back, more than men? Let’s take a closer look. 

Family care responsibilities seems to be one of the biggest challenges for women. We hear you! While for many women self-employment is a positive option, allowing them to pursue fulfilling and flexible work, self-employment isn’t often a ‘choice’ but a necessity driven by the likes of needing to accommodate childcare responsibilities. Women are twice as likely as men to mention family responsibilities as a barrier to starting a business.  

Fear of failure is also a huge barrier for women looking to launch and scale a business. There are quite a few reasons for this. One being their perception of themselves and the fact they are ‘less skilled’ than men. Only 39% of women are confident in their capabilities to start a business compared to 55% of men. This is a perceived gap in ability, rather than an actual gap in skill sets. (source) 

Access to funding seems to be another key barrier for female founders. Around one third of women say access to funding is the biggest barrier to starting a business, compared to 20% of men. A similar proportion say that the same barrier exists when looking to scale up an existing business. (source) 

Women-led businesses achieve far lower levels of equity investment, with male entrepreneurs 85% more likely to be venture-capital funded. However, when they do secure investment, women’s businesses show returns of 20% more revenue with 50% less money invested. (source) #girlpower 

Face the fear 

We founded our business to address many of the challenges facing women today. We’re intent on making marketing tools, processes and techniques that work for some of the UK’s leading brands, accessible to women starting their own business. We know the key ingredients that go into building a sustainable business and we’ve adapted some of the complex processes we’ve used over the years, to ensure that the information is digestible and affordable – for all small and medium sized business owners.  

If you’d like to talk to us about how we could help, feel free to book your free consultation call. We’re passionate about speaking to other business owners and learning more about their intentions for being a force for good!

NB: Much of this article was inspired by and based upon the research findings outlined in the Alison Rose Review project