Female Entrepreneurship

Releasing the untapped potential of female entrepreneurs by empowering them to start and grow businesses is both a right and economically advantageous cause. Not only will a more equal and diverse business environment flourish but it will lead to job creation and economic growth.

In April this year, the Federation of Small Businesses (FBS) released Women in Enterprise: The Untapped Potential. This report is a detailed but very readable insight into the current state of female entrepreneurship in the UK, the benefits that more women entrepreneurs would bring, the challenges faced by female entrepreneurs and recommendations for tackling these challenges.

What Does It Say about Female Entrepreneurship?

The findings in the report highlight that within the business community, women represent around a third of self-employed, 20% of single person businesses and form 18% of small firms with employees that are women-majority led and that the sectors with higher proportions of female-led businesses are also those with less business growth and small turnovers.

With women less likely to want to start a business and with fewer in the process of doing so compared to men, these numbers are not likely to change without public and private sector support for women entrepreneurs. Research suggests that if the level of UK female entrepreneurship was equal to that in the US, an additional 900,00 businesses would be created that would contribute an extra £23 billion to the UK economy.

Business support, mentoring, skills and training, discrimination, role models, peer groups, access to finance, access to new markets, work-life balance, childcare and maternity leave are all areas that present challenges that women entrepreneurs can encounter and the report provides recommendations as to how these challenges can be addressed.

I Want To Start A Business

Encouragingly, the public and private sectors are tackling these issues and empowering women entrepreneurs like never before and will continue to do so.

There are now many organisations providing resources for women who wish to start in business such as:

Federation of Small Businesses

Charter for Women in Business

Prowess

Female Entrepreneur Association

Not only is the help of dedicated organisations such as these and many others helping women launch their business careers, but cloud-based business technology now means it’s easier than ever to start and run a business. Not only does this technology make managing and improving business processes much simpler and more manageable, it allows professional advisors to access your data and provide you with advice and solutions in real-time.

As a female-led, cloud based accountancy firm, we are here to guide and support you every step of the way from fleshing out your business idea to helping your established business continue to grow and succeed.

 

Jody Miles
Qualified Chartered Management Accountant with more than 10 years practice experience. Very different from the stereotypical accountant but professional and diligent none the less. In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my young family and volunteering on the Calshot RNLI Lifeboat.

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